


Smash Into You

by alysurr



Series: Smash Into You [1]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Alternate Universe - Bar/Pub, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Angst, Anxious Mermista, Bilingual Character(s), Childhood Friends, Cooking, Cuddling & Snuggling, Drug Dealing, Drug Use, Drugs, Drunk Sex, F/F, F/M, Friends With Benefits, Friends to Lovers, Gay Panic, Injury Recovery, Lovers to Friends, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Mermista in Denial, Minor Injuries, Missing Persons, Motorcycles, Multi, Mutual Pining, Polyamory, Recreational Drug Use, Sea Hawk in Love, Sex, Sick Character, Sickfic, Slow Burn, Soft Bad Boy Sea Hawk, Swim Team, Swimming, TW: Blood, TW: Mature Language, The Beach Episode We Deserved, Trans Character, Trans Male Character, Underage Drinking, Underage Drug Use, Vaginal Sex, bi panic, drag racing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-20
Updated: 2020-10-13
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:54:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 30
Words: 69,613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26017627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alysurr/pseuds/alysurr
Summary: After moving across the country from Miami, Florida to Salineas, Oregon, Mermista meets an attractive stranger named Sea Hawk that keeps popping up everywhere. As they grow closer, she begins to notice some things that don’t add up, and maybe this dude isn’t as chill as he’s trying to lead her to believe.Drug Dealer Sea Hawk and University Student Mermista and the ways their lives intertwine over and over again.I have put content warnings for the explicit parts so that they can be skipped, they don’t take away from the story. Without them this still has a mature (17+) rating.Now with a playlist!https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4YEUzdNLRy1B8LtxnaoCUm?si=EMc_J5jxQuO2kzJLHy9kmg
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Adora/Catra/Glimmer (She-Ra), Adora/Glimmer (She-Ra), Bow & Glimmer (She-Ra), Kyle/Rogelio (She-Ra), Mermista & Perfuma (She-Ra), Mermista/Perfuma (She-Ra), Mermista/Sea Hawk (She-Ra), Netossa/Spinnerella (She-Ra), Perfuma/Scorpia (She-Ra)
Series: Smash Into You [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1969561
Comments: 153
Kudos: 96





	1. you’re going to get us murdered

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Maíra for helping with the Portuguese!

“Well, I suppose it’s time for me to make my exit,” the auburn haired boy said with a bow. He turned on his heel before his newest acquaintances could make a move. One of the men shouted, “Not today you scrawny fuck!” and a blade soared past his head as he bolted for the door. It narrowly missed the side of his head and hit the wall in front of him, embedding itself into the wooden doorframe.

Looks like lady luck was on his side today. As he pushed the door open and exited onto the street, he glanced back and made a hat tipping motion before he began sprinting away. 

He avoided looking back, but the sound of boots on concrete indicated his pursuers were closing the distance between them. One was quick enough to tackle him to the ground with a loud grunt. Sea Hawk rolled over onto his back and made an effort to kick the guy in the groin, but not before he was punched in the face, hard. 

Slightly dazed, he stopped for a moment. After snapping back to reality with a shake of his head, he grabbed the dude’s shoulder and put as much force into the shove as he kicked the space between his legs before scrambling to his feet. His nose was gushing blood onto the concrete, leaving a trail of droplets as he ran. 

_ That won’t do _ , he thought to himself as he started scanning the area for a stealthy exit. He crossed the street without looking, narrowly avoiding becoming roadkill as a car swerved away from him, their horn blaring. He was already running down the other side of the street. 

He glanced over his shoulder and grimaced at the sight of the car that had swerved to avoid him now partially embedded with a streetlight, smoke coming up from under the hood. It blocked the road just enough to put more distance between them, and after rounding another corner he began looking up for a vertical escape, he grinned as he ended up in a familiar alleyway. He grabbed the ladder of the fire escape and pulled himself up, pulling the ladder up behind him before he began to climb the stairs. Maybe his new friends wouldn’t even make it to the alleyway, but he didn’t want to take his chances. 

༄༄༄

The walk home from the university wasn’t so bad, only two or three miles, and Mermista figured if she made this trip every other day she could have ice cream for dessert, like, every night probably. Florida was so spread out that you practically needed a car to get anywhere, but her cute little 90s Jetta decided to give up once she got to Salineas and she didn’t have the cash to fix it right now. It was currently parked in the alley near her apartment building, where she and Perfuma pushed it after it decided to sputter and stall instead of start one morning. 

Fortunately Salineas was compact and metropolitan, so she could get pretty much anywhere on foot. And the traffic looked kind of terrifying to drive in, worse than Miami for sure, so she didn’t consider herself to be missing out on anything. It didn’t hurt that she could also stop by places to pick up job applications and there was a super yummy boba place like, right in the middle of the walk.

Besides, as long as she at least  _ kind of _ paid attention, she could study as she walked home. And this physics course was already killing her three weeks into the semester. With headphones on, a boba tea and a bag with Perfuma’s requested vegan donuts in one hand, she held her notes in the other and read as she walked. Her headphones drowned out the sound of a car accident up ahead, but a flash of red and purple caught her attention as some guy hauling ass away from the scene ran into the alley by her apartment. 

_ Definitely not gonna get into that, _ Mermista thought as she began to dig into her bag for her keys and the note that had their new door code on it. Their landlord was kind of paranoid and changed the door code every other week. She entered the number into the keypad with her knuckle and used her hip to push the door open once the lock clicked. The elevator was broken, again, so she begrudgingly took the stairs to her fourth floor apartment. She shoved her notes into her backpack when she got to the door before opening it. 

“Perfuma, I got your donuts,” she called as she dropped her keys and bag onto the table just inside of the apartment. There was a banging in the kitchen that she rolled her eyes at before heading towards it. “What are you doing?” she called, but took a step back as she wasn’t greeted by the sight of her svelte blonde roommate but the guy with the red hoodie climbing through her window and knocking over the pile of textbooks that was on the counter just under it. 

“Uh, what the fuck?” Mermista asked as she set her drink and Perfuma’s donuts on the counter opposite of him and grabbing a knife from the knife block.

He held up his hands as he scrambled off the counter. “Sorry, I didn’t know anyone lived here,” he said with a smile that might have been charming if he didn’t have a stupid mustache and wasn’t bleeding from his already bruising nose. “Please don’t stab me.”

“I’m sorry, do you randomly break into apartments? On the fourth floor?” Mermista asked, still pointing at him on the knife. 

The guy shrugged. “Just this one, because of the broken window latch.” He moved his hand to wipe his nose, flinching at the contact. His blood was dripping onto his white v neck and the floor tile. 

“Ugh, Perfuma was supposed to call the landlord about that,” Mermista sighed with a frown.

“What was I supposed to do?” Perfuma asked cheerfully as she came from the hallway. “Oh! You brought a boy home!” Her face dropped. “You’re bleeding!”

“I didn’t bring him here, he climbed through the window that you were supposed to get fixed!” Mermista hissed.

The guy interjected, “I really didn’t know anyone lived here! This place is usually empty!” 

“Okay and? Why are you breaking into random apartments?” Mermista growled at him. 

“I was just running away from an, ah, disagreement, and needed to make sure I lost them!”

“Well, can you like, get lost then?”

“Aww, but look at him, he’s hurt!” Perfuma interrupted. Mermista looked between her roommate and the guy who was now smirking at her with raised eyebrows. 

“Alright, fine!” She rolled her eyes and put the knife back before grabbing a rag and running it under sink water, not turning her back to him. Perfuma led him to a chair and sat him down. 

“Tilt your head back so it stops bleeding,” Mermista commanded. “This is probably gonna hurt like a bitch,” she added as she pressed the rag under his nose. He immediately flinched again as his eyes began to water. 

“ _ Ai, moça, _ ” he yelped. As Mermista met his gaze, he added “ _ Caralho, você tem olhos lindos! _ "

“What?” Mermista asked.

“Y-you have beautiful eyes.” His voice was slightly raspy. 

“Do you think it’s broken?” Perfuma asked as she leaned over him. 

“Can you breathe through it?” Mermista asked, ignoring his earlier statement as she pulled away the rag. The bleeding had mostly stopped. 

“Kind of,” he said after a moment. 

“Probably just bruised, then,” Mermista said. She folded the rag and used the clean side to wipe the rest of the blood off of his mouth and neck. “Keep your head back!” She shouted as he began to move. He relaxed back into the chair, leaning his head back further. 

“You’re lucky Mermista’s here!” Perfuma beamed. “She’s great at first aid! She used to be a lifeguard!” 

“Can you maybe  _ not _ tell the intruder my name?” Mermista groaned as she dropped the rag on the floor where he had bled and used her foot to wipe it before picking it up and dropping it into the sink. 

“So what happened?!” Perfuma asked excitedly, sitting in the chair on the other side of the table as Mermista began to wash her hands. 

“Just got into a fight with some guy at a bar,” he responded cheerfully. “No big deal, just didn’t need them catching up to me and kicking my ribs in.”

“And what did you do to deserve it?” Mermista asked, leaning with her back against the counter with her boba in hand. 

“Oh, I love that boba place!” he said excitedly, moving but then putting his head back when Mermista glared at him. 

“Yeah, don’t change the subject.”

He chuckled. “Honestly, I just owe a dude some money and don’t have it this week. He got mad and his friends jumped me.”

“So you’re, what, a fugitive?” 

“Sure, I guess!” There was that dumbass grin again.

“Well you can stay here as long as you’d like!” Perfuma said cheerfully. 

“Perfuma. Bedroom. Now.” Mermista said through gritted teeth as she approached her roommate and grabbed her arm. “We are  _ not _ harboring a criminal!” She hissed when she shut the door behind them

“Oh come on!” Perfuma giggled. “He seems harmless!” 

“How did you look at that 6’0 dude with a bloody nose and a pornstache who _broke into our apartment_ and think _oh, he’s_ _harmless?”_

“Well, I left the window open because it’s nice out! And maybe he was the previous tenant so this was the first place he thought to go!” 

Mermista pinched the bridge of her nose, her eyebrows furrowing, and groaned. “Perfuma. We are not keeping a criminal here. What if the disagreement was with the police?” 

Sirens sounded at that moment, and Mermista glared at Perfuma. “See!?” They both ran to the window that looked over the street. 

“It’s just a fire truck. Looks like someone ran into a pole on the corner.” Perfuma beamed at her. “Happens all the time!” When Mermista shook her head, Perfuma put a hand on her shoulder. “Besides, he was kind of cute once you cleaned him up! And he complimented you!”

“Perfuma, you’re a lesbian,” Mermista deadpanned. 

“I meant for  _ you.  _ And I can still appreciate an attractive dude when I see one!” Perfuma protested. 

“Ignoring that. Oh my god, you’re going to get us murdered,” Mermista sighed. “I guess we should make sure he’s not like, setting up spy cameras everywhere or bleeding on everything.” 

When they returned to the kitchen, he was still leaning back in the chair, his eyes closed and arms crossed over his stomach. 

“Let me see,” Mermista said as she approached him. He flinched a little when she grabbed his jaw to look at his nose. The bruise was beginning to darken and would probably spread to his eyes soon. He was staring up at her again, smiling, when she let go. “You can probably move now. I doubt it’s broken, probably just gonna be bruised for a few days. Whoever punched you got you good.” 

“Guess I’ll have to come up with a good story to tell the patrons where I work,” he said with a grin. He nodded to her sweatshirt. “You go to Bright Moon?”

“Okay, stalker, no more questions. Do you want some painkillers?” 

“Sure. Do both of you go?” He asked Perfuma as Mermista left to grab the bottle of Advil from the bathroom. 

“Yep! I go for Botany and Mermista goes for Marine Biology. She’s on the swim team too!”

“Why don’t you tell him our blood types and social security numbers while you’re at it?” Mermista groaned sarcastically, slamming the cabinet and grabbing a glass from the dishwasher to put water in. 

“Hmm, I don’t know my blood type,” Perfuma mused, clearly entertained by her friend’s disparagement. 

“You probably should,” Mermista said as she handed the glass and four pills to the guy. “What if you get like, hit by a car and need a blood transfusion?” 

“I’m sure it’s on file at the hospital somewhere,” the stranger chimed in after he swallowed the pills and washed them down with the water. 

“What if you’re in a different country?” Mermista asked as she threw herself into the chair between them. 

“You’re so paranoid,” Perfuma teased. 

“Well, yeah, if you die, I have to pay the rent by myself!”


	2. kidnapping girls and feeding them

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sea Hawk gives Mermista a ride home from school.

Sea Hawk was definitely making an effort to see her again. He made it his mission to be downtown around the same time as that day, riding around on his bike, doing drop-offs or meeting friends. It took three weeks, but it was worth it when he caught a glimpse of blue hair. 

He pulled up next to her, the sound of the motorcycle overpowering her earbuds and grabbing her attention. She seemed taken aback for just a moment, but her expression went blank when he pulled his helmet off and shook out his hair. 

“Oh, hey, stalker,” she said casually as she pulled out an earbud. 

“Need a ride?” He asked with a grin. 

Mermista took a look at his purple Harley Davidson and returned her brown eyes to him.

“No, thanks,” she deadpanned. 

“Wait, really?” 

“Yeah. I like walking, and don’t want to like, die, if you ride that thing like you apparently seem to walk through life.” She waved a stack of notecards at him. “Also, I need to study.” 

“What are you studying?”

“Physics.”

“Ooh! Math and science!” 

“Yep.” She crossed her arms. 

“I can probably help with it, if you want. I’m pretty good at math.” 

She bit her lip for a moment, averting her gaze as she considered the offer. “I think I’m good.” 

“I’m not a bad driver,” he insisted. 

“How do I know you’re not trying to like, kidnap me so you can murder me and wear my skin?”

“Do I really seem like that kind of guy?”

“I mean, you’re a fugitive who breaks into random apartments and bleeds on people’s floors, and now we can add stalking to your rap sheet so… I wouldn’t put it past you.”

Sea Hawk laughed. He had the kind of laugh that could be infectious at the right moment. Now that he wasn’t covered in his own blood and bruised up, Mermista couldn’t help but notice he was kind of handsome. A chiseled jaw, dark eyes that crinkled when he smiled, full lips slightly obscured behind that mustache. His sleeves were pushed up today, revealing a sleeve of nautical themed tattoos on one arm. 

“Come on, let me take you home,” he said, holding the helmet out to her with a gaze that dared her to say no. A look that said he always got what he wanted. “As a thank you for your absolutely wonderful first aid skills.” 

“I cleaned your face and gave you Advil,” she said, but shoved her note cards and earbuds into her backpack and took the helmet, pulling the chin strap tight.

“ _Gracinha_ ,” he said under his breath as he flipped the visor down, mostly to himself. He scooted forward so she could climb onto the bike behind him. “Watch your right leg for the muffler, it will burn you,” he said before taking her wrists and wrapping her arms around his waist. 

“Okay.”

“You good?”

“Yep,” she said, not really sure that it was the truth. She’d never been on a motorcycle before, and definitely hadn’t been this close to a stranger before. He smelled a little bit like weed but also something spicy and semi-sweet, like he smoked inside and sprayed on cologne to try to hide it. 

“I’ll be gentle and go the speed limit,” he assured her, talking loudly over the engine. She didn’t respond. 

When they lurched forward, she tightened her grip on his waist, feeling his abs vibrate under her fingers as he laughed again. She pushed her face forward, the helmet stopping her from burying it into his jacket. 

He definitely did not go the speed limit, and she felt her stomach lurch at the sight of buildings and cars blurring past them as he swerved in and out of the traffic. She squeezed her eyes shut and couldn’t help herself from digging her nails into him as she tightened her grip even further, feeling like holding onto him was the only thing stopping her from just falling off the back. When they pulled up to a red light, he patted her wrist gently. 

“It’s okay, I’ve literally never crashed my bike,” he assured her. 

“For some reason I don’t believe that,” Mermista sighed, taking a moment to look around. “Wait, we’re like way past the apartment. You are kidnapping me!” 

He was already taking off. “It’s fine!” He called back. “I’m not kidnapping you, I just want to thank you properly, _coisa linda_.” 

Realizing she didn’t have a choice unless she wanted to risk full body road rash and potentially being hit by a car, she accepted her fate and squeezed her eyes shut, trying not to lose the bagel she had this morning as he continued to swerve in and out of traffic. He came to a final stop and turned off the engine, pulling out the key. It took a moment before she unclenched her fists and unwrapped her arms from around him, sliding off the bike onto slightly shaky legs. She removed the helmet and handed it back to him before combing through her hair with her fingers. They were parked in front of a little bistro. Kind of cute, most likely not a hidden murder house. 

“You could have just asked me to lunch,” Mermista drawled. 

“Would you have said yes?”

She shrugged. “Probably not. It would have just been nice to have a choice in the matter…. but….” she looked around. “I have absolutely no idea where we are so I guess I’m kind of at your mercy.”

He beamed at her, still holding the helmet under his arm. “Come on, then,” he said and led her to the door, holding it open for her. As she moved past him, she sort of expected the creepy back touch most guys did when they held doors open for her, but he didn’t. She looked over her shoulder at him as he let the door swing shut behind him, following her in. 

“How long have you been in Oregon?” he asked as they slid into a booth, sitting opposite of each other.

“How do you know I’m _not_ from Oregon?” she responded as he grabbed two menus from the corner of the table and handed one to her.

“You have an accent that’s not from the PNW?”

“Just about a month. Are you from here?” She asked as she looked over the menu. “Have you been here before?” She added when she noticed he had already put his menu down and was watching her intently.

“Yes and yes. They have amazing milkshakes and their grouper sandwich is delicious.”

Mermista nodded, adding her menu to his and putting them back in their holder. “Okay. I’ll take your word for it.” She leaned back into the booth, crossing her arms under her chest. Her cropped jacket was open and she was wearing a low cut tank top underneath, so she knew he was getting a pretty good view right now. He kept his dark eyes right on hers, still smirking. 

“Stop looking at me like that,” she said, averting her gaze and thankful because the waitress walked up at that exact moment. 

He ordered for both of them, two grouper sandwiches with fries and milkshakes—surprise them, but no peanuts or tree nuts, please. Mermista may as well have been invisible, because the waitress didn’t even look at her as she scrawled the order down on her pad and mirrored his grin. She giggled before turning away, swinging her hips in an exaggerated way. He leaned forward and rested his chin on folded hands. 

“So where’d you come from?”

“Miami.” 

“City or suburb?” 

“Suburb. Hialeah.” Why was she telling him all of this? It was like the way he looked at her made her want to spill all of her secrets. It wasn’t even that he was insanely attractive. He was almost magnetic, with unmatched charisma that just made her melt. 

“Between Coral Gables and Pembroke?”

She nodded. “Not bad.”

“My parents have a house in Coral Gables,” he said nonchalantly. 

“Oh, look at you, rich guy.”

“Nah, that’s my parents.” He leaned back into the booth seat, looking out the window. 

“What language were you speaking the other day?” Mermista asked. She’d been wondering—she knew enough Spanish to know that that wasn’t it, but it had been bothering her. 

“Hmm, probably Brazilian Portugese,” he said, grabbing the ketchup bottle from the end of the table and mindlessly sliding it on the table between his hands, fidgeting. “My dad’s from Brazil so we all grew up speaking it.”

Mermista nodded. “Probably? How many languages do you know?” 

“Like two, fluently. I know a tiny bit of Spanish from high school, and some Japanese, but don’t test me because I will absolutely fail at both of them.” 

Mermista laughed at how open and honest this guy was. 

“I’m like, semi-fluent in Hindi. Like I’d probably get laughed at in India but when my family comes to visit I can understand what they’re saying,” she said. “Japanese, why? You a big weeb?”

His laugh boomed across the restaurant, drawing attention from the group a few tables over. Mermista sunk into her seat a little, definitely not wanting the attention. “My mom’s Japanese,” he said, still laughing. “I have to use subtitles when I watch anime.”

“Oh, god, you are a weeb.” He smirked in response, shifting so his foot was touching hers under the table. After a few moments of silence, she asked, “So does kidnapping girls and feeding them work for you usually?” 

“I don’t know, is it working?” He asked. She rolled her eyes in response and her phone began to ring in her bag. Sea Hawk studied her as she dug it out, the way her brows furrowed as she concentrated.

“One sec.” She slid a finger across her screen. “Hey. No I’m ok. I’m with…” she just realized she didn’t know his name. 

“You can call me Sea Hawk,” he said, as if reading her mind. She gave him a look thay said ‘Really?’.

“The fugitive that broke into our house. Remember? Yeah. He kidnapped me on my way back from schools but it’s fine. He’s feeding me now. Ugh… really? I told you to write it down. Give me a sec.” She began to type frantically in the phone. “Sorry,” she said to Sea Hawk. “Perfuma forgot the WiFi name and password so I have to send her a screenshot of it because its, like, a million characters long.”

“It’s fine!” He said cheerfully. Her bangs fell into her face in the sexiest way, blue waves falling over collarbones and a tank top under an open cropped jacket that didn’t leave much to the imagination. She was stacked on top of already being ridiculously curvy. Literally the perfect woman in his eyes, definitely his type, and she had a bit of an attitude which was exciting too. She bit one of her full lips as she continued typing, her dark eyelashes fluttering slightly. She put the phone back to her ear, looking at him, and he could get lost in those honey-brown eyes. 

“Did you get it? Ok, cool. Yeah. I’ll be home later. If I’m not, you should probably call the cops.” She hung up the phone and set it down on the table. He caught a glimpse of a jellyfish background before it faded to black. The waitress came by and dropped off their food, taking a moment to flirt with Sea Hawk, who was polite but kept glancing at Mermista, before leaving again, giving a disappointed look towards Mermista who just shrugged. 

“Sea Hawk, really?” She asked before she took a sip of her milkshake. 

“That’s my name!” He said as he put ketchup on his plate for his fries. 

“Mmm, this is really good. So like, your mom carried you in her uterus for 9 months and named you Sea Hawk when you came out?”

“No, it’s a nickname. Like… Misty.”

“Don’t call me that.”

“Aww, why not? It’s cute! Like you!”

She found herself blushing, suddenly finding her sandwich very interesting as he took a sip of his milkshake. He weighed in her expression, trying to see how she judged the sandwich. She licked her lips and he choked on his drink, coughing.

So much for keeping a cool exterior. 


	3. take care of yourself

The food was just as good as he said it was, and the company wasn’t too bad either. When they were done eating, he insisted on helping her study after they polished off their milkshakes. He asked for the check and when the waitress brought it back, instead of a card he pulled out a thick wad of cash and put three twenties on the table before folding it and returning it to his pocket. 

“I’d feel bad holding up her table. There’s a coffee shop a few blocks away, wanna study there?” He slid out of the booth. 

“You really don’t have to do that,” Mermista said as she stood up after him. 

“I want to.”

“If you’re sure… I suppose I can’t say no to coffee. And, I guess if you are good at this stuff it can’t hurt. Can we walk though?”

“If you want!” He said as he opened the door for her again. “So, physics for marine biology? Is that like a pre-req?” He asked as they headed down the sidewalk.

“Yeah, unfortunately. I just want to hang out with dolphins, not do all this math.” 

He chuckled. “Well, good thing we ran into each other because I’m actually pretty good at math.”

“Do you go to BMU?” 

“Nah, I went to Berkley for a year, was gonna go into engineering, but then I dropped out. I hated school.” 

“Oh.”

If the silence was awkward to him, he didn’t show it as they rounded the block. 

“But my oldest brother attended and he’s actually a professor now,” he added after a few moments, pride in his voice. 

“Oh? What’s he teach?”

“Stats and I think he did Portugese one year but I’m not sure he’s still doing it. His wife teaches there too, usually Portuguese.” 

“What’s his name? My friend Bow is taking stats.”

“Tomás Marinho,” Sea Hawk said after a pause. 

“Yes! That’s him! So I guess your brother’s like, super hot, Bow literally never stops talking about him, I’m surprised he’s not failing the class because I don’t think he does anything but stare.” 

“I can put in a good word for him, if you want,” he said. 

“Oh, no, please, Bow would absolutely kill me.” 

“Okay, okay, secret’s safe with me.” He made a motion like he was locking his lips and tossing the key over his shoulder. How he could be so goofy and also so… intimidating at the same time was baffling. 

He pulled out his phone for a moment — she was surprised to see it was an older, scratched up Samsung model with a screen cover that obscured the display. He frowned for a second, typed something quickly then returned it to his pocket. 

“Everything ok?” Mermista asked. 

“Yep!” He smiled brightly at her, grabbing the door handle to the coffee shop. He held the door open for her again. As she passed him, he admired the way her hips moved when she walked, the curve of her back disappearing into her high-waisted shorts and the way they hugged her ass. He could throw her on a table and fuck her right then and there, if he were a less respectful man. 

He let the door swing shut behind him as he followed her to the counter. “Know what you want?” She asked as she studied the menu. 

“I usually just get iced coffee or cold brew,” he responded. 

“I always get the same thing, too. Maybe it’s time to try something different?” She put a finger to her lips, parting them slightly as she crossed her other arm under her chest. “Ugh, nah, maybe not, I think I've experienced enough new stuff today.” She turned to give him a pointed look. Her brown eyes could put him on his knees. 

“Get whatever you want,” he said, softer than he intended. 

When they got to the register, she ordered an iced cinnamon mocha with soy milk and he asked for a nitro cold brew, handing a twenty to the barista and dropping the change into the tip jar. 

”Lactose intolerant?” he asked when they found a table in the back corner of the coffee shop. 

“No, I just don’t like the taste of cow’s milk,” she said wrinkling her nose. “I never have, even as a kid.” 

“Noted.” He leaned back in his chair. “So what’s going on in Misty’s world of physics?”

“Ugh, don’t call me that,” she said as she unzipped her backpack and pulled out her laptop and a spiral notebook. “It doesn’t help that the textbook is digital.” She opened the laptop and their drinks were called out as she logged into the wifi and pulled up the school’s digital learning website. Sea Hawk got up to grab them and when he came back, rested his foot against hers under the table. 

She slid her notebook over to him as she pulled the wrapper off of her straw and stuck it into her own drink. 

“So what I don’t really get is, I guess, the magnetics part, this is the equation and every time I work through the problems, for some reason my answer is always just, wildly incorrect…” 

They sat there for over an hour, long enough for them to polish off their first drinks and for Sea Hawk grab refills. 

It had been a while since he’d really looked at math equations this way, and he was nervous that he wouldn’t just get it like he did in high school, but it came back so naturally. When he took her pencil and worked through the equation, she was more focused on the way he wrinkled his forehead when he concentrated, swept the auburn hair falling into his face back and the vibrations against her foot as he jiggled his leg under the table. Her eyes lit up when it finally seemed to click, and her big grin when she got every single problem afterwards was adorable. 

“This is such a relief,” she said as she shut her laptop when they were done. “Thank you, so, so much! I don’t know how I can repay you.” 

He could think of a few ways, but just grinned with a shrug instead. “Any time. I’m just glad I got to get to know the girl who tried to stab me a few weeks ago.” 

“I never got close enough to actually try,” Mermista said as she shoved her notes and the laptop into her bag. Sea Hawk pulled his phone out again, rolling his eyes at whatever was on the screen, letting out a small sigh and pushing his hair back before typing a response. 

“Let’s get you home,” he said after a moment, returning the phone to his pocket.

“Girlfriend waiting for you at home?” Mermista asked, testing the waters as she stood up. 

“Huh?”

“Whoever’s texting you seems to be irritating you.” 

“Oh? Nah, no girlfriend. Just a friend who needs something, nothing to worry about.”

She didn’t push it — if he had secrets, it wasn’t her problem, she reminded herself. Even if she was relieved he didn’t have a girlfriend, that didn’t mean anything, he was just trying to settle a debt. 

The ride home was just as bad as the ride there, and she kept her eyes shut as she squeezed him as tightly as possible. In the moments they weren’t swerving or going insanely fast, she let herself run her fingers along his abs while trying to disguise it as adjusting her hands. 

When they finally arrived back at her apartment, Mermista leaned to the right to get off the bike, yelping as her bare calf hit the muffler. She slid off the bike the other way, wincing as she twisted her ankle so she could see the burn, feeling her eyes water. 

“ _Porra_! I told you!” sea Hawk said, not scolding her but genuinely concerned, as he jumped off the bike himself, dropping to his knees to look at it. He gingerly touched the other side of her calf and winced, letting out a sympathetic noise as he saw the burn. The muffler’s heat ate right through her tights and, while her high-top Doc Martens saved most of her ankle, there was still a good sized burn right above it. 

“We need to get this under water,” he said as he stood. “Can you walk?”

“Yeah,” Mermista breathed, the initial shock finally settling as she nodded her head. “Yeah, it’s cool.” She shrugged her backpack off at the door of the building, digging for the sticky note and jiggling her calf to distract her from the pain. “Elevator’s broken so we gotta take the stairs,” she said as she typed in the code, wrong the first time but the lock clicked open the second time. 

After she pulled the door open, he picked her up.

“No, no, what are you doing!? Sea Hawk! Put me down!” An older gentleman in the lobby looked up from their newspaper to glare at them. 

“I don’t want you to hurt it more going up the stairs,” Sea Hawk said as he walked towards them. “Fourth floor?” he asked and she nodded. 

“403,” Mermista said as they arrived at her floor. He set her down gently in front of the door, and she was surprised to see he was barely out of breath. Sometimes the stairs made her winded, but he was just sort of breathing a little abnormally. 

She unlocked the door and dropped her backpack to the floor as she headed inside, making a beeline for the bathroom. She yanked off her boot without untying it, turned on the bathtub and stuck her foot under it, sitting on the toilet with the seat down. Sea Hawk kneeled next to her, moving to turn the faucet temperature a little warmer. 

“It’s better if it’s close to your body temperature,” he explained. “Less tissue damage this way. Here.” Careful to avoid the burn itself, he put two fingers on the part of her tight that was burnt off and made the hole larger until he could slide it off of her foot and pull it up her calf a little. “This way you don’t have to take your pants off.” Then he reached up and unbuckled the chin strap of the bike helmet and lifted it off of her head, setting it on the counter next to her. 

“I’m such an idiot,” Mermista said through her teeth, gritting them from the pain which was beginning to very slowly subside. 

“Nah,” Sea Hawk assured her. He repositioned himself so he was sitting on his butt and lifted up his pants leg, revealing an oval-shaped scar on the inside of his right calf. “I have experience with these for a reason,” he laughed. 

“What’s going on?” Perfuma asked, arriving at the door. “Hey,” she said to Sea Hawk who nodded in response with a small wave. 

“I’m an idiot,” Mermista said, turning to look at her roommate. 

“Burnt herself on the muffler of my bike,” Sea Hawk said sheepishly. 

“Oh no!” Perfuma exclaimed, joining them in the already cramped bathroom. Mermista was starting to feel warm with all of the attention on her, so she took off her jacket and set it on the counter behind her. Perfuma tutted at her. “Be right back, I think Scorpia has a bunch of first aid stuff.” 

“Scorpia’s her girlfriend. She lives in the building across the street, conveniently,” Mermista explained once she was gone. 

“Ah,” was all Sea Hawk said in response, and an awkward silence settled over them as they waited for Perfuma to return. 

When she did, with a bag of supplies and a very concerned Scorpia in tow, Mermista leaned forward to turn the water off and pressed a towel to her calf, moving so it was settled over her thigh. Sea Hawk washed his hands before he took the burn cream Perfuma handed him and squeezed enough on his finger to spread over the wound. He looked at her apologetically as she sucked air through her teeth at the pain his touch caused. 

“Sorry, sorry,” he said. He applied the gauze to her wound and used medical tape to secure it, wrapping it securely but not super tight. He looked up at her with his dark eyes as she put her leg down, testing the tightness. “Well, now you have a thai tattoo,” he joked. 

“What’s that?” Mermista asked, leaning forward to untie her other shoe. 

“Motorcycles are the most common form of transportation in Thailand, so a lot of people have that same burn scar.”

“Oh…” Mermista said, standing up and offering a hand to pull him up. “Give me a sec, I’m gonna go change. Unless you need to leave. I know I’ve probably taken up too much of your time as it is…” 

“I can stay a little longer, I don’t have to be at work til 7.” When he stood up in the tiny bathroom, there was just inches between them. Mermista could really smell his cologne now—hints of vanilla and lavender and ginger and just the unquestionable smell of _man._ She almost forgot they had an audience until Scorpia cleared her throat, pulling both of their attention towards her as she rubbed the back of her head with her hand. 

“So you think you’re gonna be okay?” She asked with a level of concern only Scorpia could muster. 

“Yeah, I think so,” Mermista said, flexing her calf a little then flinching at the pain that caused. “Just might take a few days.” She side stepped out of the way, grabbing her jacket off of the counter and crouching down to pick up her other shoe before heading back to her bedroom. Sea Hawk stood in the hallway as she shut her door behind her.

Perfuma introduced him to Scorpia and they receded to the living room while Mermista changed into a pair of cropped joggers that stopped just below her knees and a sweatshirt from the summer she worked at the aquarium in Fort Lauderdale. She checked herself in the mirror, wiping off the mascara that had run under her eyes and running a brush through her hair. 

“You should elevate your leg,” Sea Hawk said when she opened the door. 

“It’s not broken,” Mermista laughed. 

“Yeah but it’s probably still good to help the blood flow,” he said as she stepped out of his way. Her room was simple, with a desk, dresser and a full-sized bed. There were still a few boxes against the wall, some of them still had tape on and others were open like she just needed one or two things from them. 

“Still unpacking,” she explained with a shrug before making her way to the bed. She sat down and grabbed a few pillows to prop her calf up on, sitting against the upholstered headboard. “You can sit if you want.”

He perched himself at the end of her bed as she was scrolling through her phone, taking out his own as it vibrated again. 

4:22pm **unknown number:** drop @ harbor 3am

5:12pm **Falcon:** U better not bail on me, man 

5:32pm **Sea Hawk** : I swear to god I will if you don’t drop it. I gave you this number for emergencies. Don’t abuse it.

5:33pm **Falcon:** I should jus get scurvy 2 take u out then we won’t have 2 deal wit u anymore 

5:33pm **Sea Hawk:** you can try. I’ll see you at 2:45. 

**Best Freshhhhman Squad Group Chat**

4:45pm **Bow:** all in favor of all night midterm study sesh next Monday at the library say aye

4:45pm **Adora:** aye!

4:45pm **Sparkles:** Aye!

4:45pm **Catgirl:** sure

4:46pm **Scorpia:** sounds great! 

4:46pm **Perfuma:** aye!

4:46pm **Lonnie:** got plans

4:46pm **Rogelio:** same

4:47pm **unknown number:** I can come!

4:48pm **Bow** : Yay!

4:52pm **Bow:** @mermista Are you down?

4:58pm **Sparkles:** did she die 

5:10pm **Perfuma:** she just got home! She burned herself 

5:10pm **Sparkles:** omg no

5:10pm **Bow:** OMG is she ok??!!

5:11pm **Adora:** Oh no! Tell her to put it under warm water!

5:12pm **Catgirl:** Isn’t it cold water?

5:12pm **Adora** : warm is better 

5:13pm **Catgirl:** k 

5:13pm **Scorpia:** I have burn stuff if you need it babe!

5:14pm **Perfuma:** Yes, thank you! Be right there!

5:20pm **Bow:** IS SHE OK?

5:23pm **Bow:** HELLO?

5:32pm **Mermista** : I’m fine geez and yeah I’ll come I guess 

5:33pm **Perfuma:** She has a very handsome nurse taking care of her! 

5:33pm **Mermista** : Can u not 

5:33pm **Bow** : whAAAAT?!

5:33pm **Mermista** : it’s nothing

5:34pm **Perfuma:** remember the guy who broke into our apartment last month 

5:34pm **Sparkles:**!!!!!!!!

5:34pm **Bow:** GET IT MERMISTA

5:35pm **Adora:** be safe please!

5:35pm **Mermista:** k bye 

Mermista tossed her phone to the bed beside her with a small groan and Sea Hawk looked up from his. 

“Sorry, just hate coming back to a million texts,” she explained. “And Perfuma already informed the group chat for school of my predicament so…” she rolled her eyes. 

“When do you have class next?” Sea Hawk asked.

“Why?” 

“Let me take you. So you don’t have to walk so far with the burn.”

“You don’t have to do that,” Mermista argued, looking away. “I’m fine.”

“It would just make me feel better. And don’t worry—I have a car, it won’t be on the bike.” 

“8am Thursday, then.” 

“It’s a date!” He smiled at her, enjoying the way her cheeks flushed at his words. “I should probably get going now… still gotta go home and get changed.” 

“Okay,” Mermista said. Why did she feel kind of sad suddenly?

He stood up and she went to stand up too, but he stopped her with a hand on her thigh. “You should take it easy.”

“I’m really fine,” Mermista laughed. “It’s not even that painful anymore.” 

“Still.” He leaned down to pull her into a hug, causing her to stiffen before melting into it. He touched her cheek when he pulled back, moving his fingers through her hair as he brushed it behind her ear. The way she looked at him, he could probably ask her to get on her knees then and there and she would. 

“Take care of yourself, _coisa linda_.”

And as suddenly as he appeared, he was gone again.   
  


Google Search: Sea Hawk Salineas OR

Google Search: Sea Hawk Marinho


	4. you’ll shoot first

Sea Hawk stood on the dock with his hands in his pockets and his collar up over his neck. It was just barely cold enough to see his breath when he exhaled. He turned at the sound of footsteps coming up behind him, checking his phone for the time. 3:12am. He’d already been there for 30 minutes.

“And here you were worried _I’d_ bail, you’re late, _idiota_.”

The blonde shrugged as he sidled up to Sea Hawk. His long hair was pulled back into a bun at the base of his neck. 

“Something came up,” was all Falcon said.

“You’re just lucky the drop is late. If it wasn’t, I wouldn’t be here still.” 

“Bullshit, you owe me, Hawk.” Falcon lifted his braced arm as a reminder. The men who had chased him into Mermista’s apartment went after his guys instead. Falcon was the easiest to find. 

“How is my surname written on half of the boats in the marina, and you’re the one who’s so easy to find?” Sea Hawk scoffed as a dark green Ford Explorer pulled up to the docks, parking behind Sea Hawk’s black Jeep Grand Cherokee and Falcon’s beat up Toyota Tacoma. It had a transport tag zip tied where the plate would normally go. 

“I don’t know, maybe it had something to do with me not having paid someone to wipe my whole digital life off the internet.”

“You should still do that,” Sea Hawk shrugged as they approached the vehicle. A man with dark hair and a long scar on the side of his face emerged from the passenger side and the liftgate rose up in the back. Sea Hawk took a wad of cash from his jacket pocket and handed it over to him silently. 

Falcon began to unload the bags from the back of the Explorer, backing off quickly with his hands up as the man pointed a handgun at him. Sea Hawk’s hand instinctively went to the Beretta 9mm he had tucked into his waistband.

"Tá tudo aqui?” [It’s all there?] the man asked.

"Sim.” [Yes.]

The man handed the wad of cash over to the driver who counted it quickly. “Tá tudo aqui,” [It’s all there.] he confirmed and Sea Hawk nodded to Falcon as the man in front of him lowered his weapon. Falcon started unloading the bags and moving them to the back of Sea Hawk’s car. 

“Okay. Aqui estão os produtos. A próxima remessa chega no dia 29.” [Okay. Here are the goods. Next drop is the 29th.]

“Estarei lá,” [I’ll be there.] Sea Hawk confirmed. The man climbed back into the passenger seat, Sea Hawk went to grab the last few bags and closed the liftgate. He backed out of the way before the driver put the car in reverse, and they were gone. Sea Hawk tossed two bags into the bed of Falcon’s truck. 

“How many fucking times do I have to tell you to wait until I pay them to touch their shit?” Sea Hawk hissed, closing the liftgate of his Jeep. “You know how trigger happy they can be.” 

“Don’t be such a tightass,” the blonde responded, moving closer to Sea Hawk. He traced the outline of the handgun in Sea Hawk’s waistband with his index finger. “I know you’ll shoot first.” 

Sea Hawk stepped back. “We went over this. You want in the game, I don’t mix business with pleasure.”

“You also won’t let anyone who isn’t involved in the game get close to you, so what are you getting at?” Falcon asked. 

Mermista’s face, brown eyes looking up at him, lips slightly parted and cheeks flushed when his fingers were intertwined in her hair suddenly flashed through his head. Her feed on Instagram, filled with pictures of food, of Miami, selfies of her on the beach, surfing with friends, sitting on top of a black 90s model Volkswagen, working, at school. Her high school graduation in a white and gold cap and gown, just a few months ago. The date put her probably just at 18, which was younger than he anticipated. Stories saved from just a few months before of her laughing and smiling with some guy’s arms around her, kissing the side of her head, but no pictures of them together. She probably forgot to delete the story with the rest of the pictures, or at least he hoped. 

“Debt’s paid. Goodnight.” Sea Hawk got in his car and left Falcon behind, still standing in the road next to his truck. 

༄༄༄

Wednesday, Sept 4th 

1:34pm **Mermista:** hey u know how to bake right 

1:34pm **Bow:** I DO know how to bake!

1:39pm **Mermista:** can u do me a favor? I’ll pay you or do your bio homework or whatever 

1:39pm **Bow:** A BAKING FAVOR?! OF COURSE! IS IT FOR THE BURGLAR

1:42pm **Mermista:** actually nevermind im gonna ask scorpia 

1:43pm **Bow:** NO PLEASE LET ME DO IT

1:45pm **Bow:** PLEASE

1:47pm **Bow:** MERMISTA PLEASE

1:47pm **Mermista:** Ugh fine… can u make me like half a dozen cupcakes… don’t care what they look like just that they taste good 

1:48pm **Mermista:** oh and make sure there aren’t any peanuts or tree nuts ok?

1:48pm **Bow:** ON IT

1:49pm **Mermista:** cool lmk what I owe you

1:50pm **Bow:** just come to one of our movie or game nights this month! 

1:54pm **Mermista:** I’ll consider it 

1:55pm **Bow:** :):):)

༄༄༄

Sea Hawk hadn’t given her his phone number, and he was all but absent on social media. All Mermista could find during her late night google searches were a big boat making brand and an Instagram with just a handful of pictures that hadn’t been updated since 2013. She wasn’t even sure they were his given that it was mostly just boats and the ocean. She didn’t have a lot of time to get ready because she snoozed her alarm too many times, so her hair was still kind of damp when she opened the door of her apartment building. To her surprise, he was already there, parallel parked with a bag in one hand and his phone in the other. He was dressed in light wash slim cut jeans, a white t-shirt and a black leather jacket. 

Sea Hawk looked up as she exited the building. She was wearing a sheer black button up shirt with a collar layered over a tight black tank top tucked into high waisted, distressed black jeans cuffed just above her boots. Black eyeliner, expertly applied, and glossy lips completed the look with her blue curls framing one side of her face. She had her backpack hanging off of one shoulder. 

“I realized after I left I didn’t get your number,” he said with a smile, holding out the bag. “Got you breakfast, I didn’t really know what you like so I played it safe with a bagel.” 

“Oh, thanks,” She responded, taking the bag from him. He opened the door of the car, a sleek black Volvo SUV, probably current model year, revealing a pristine interior with tan leather seats. He closed the door behind her after she got in. As she buckled her seat belt, she noticed a pair of car seats attached to the backseat. 

“Got something to tell me?” She asked when he got into the drivers side.

“Huh?” he asked, then when she motioned to the back seat he smiled. “Yeah. This is my sister-in-law’s car. Mine’s in the shop.” He pointed at an iced latte in the cup holder. “That’s for you.”

She was blushing as he turned on the engine. “You really didn’t have to go so out of your way for me.”

“I’ve had her car for a week,” he said casually. It wasn’t a lie, his regular car was really in the shop, but he picked up the Volvo that morning. “It’s really not an issue. How’s your leg by the way?”

“Gross looking,” she admitted. “But it’ll be fine, it only hurts if I bump it.” When he pulled out onto the street, the radio started up, playing some kind of EDM. Mermista took a drink of the latte—he got her order just right. 

“I’m sorry, again,” he said. 

“It was my fault, really,” Mermista said. 

“I still feel bad.” 

“Please don’t. Honestly, it’s kind of a blessing in disguise. I can’t swim until it’s healed so it gives me more time to cram for my midterms.” 

“Ooof, I really am sorry now,” he said, shaking his head. She punched his arm gently. 

“Stop saying that,” Mermista laughed. She rolled her window down, leaning her arm on the door and watching the buildings move by. “Crazy how cool it already is here,” she said as she enjoyed the air hitting her face. “This is like, December weather in Florida.” 

“Wait til it starts snowing,” Sea Hawk joked. “You’ll be begging me for rides then.”

She turned to look at him. “I forgot about snow! Damn, I really need to get my car fixed now.” 

“What’s wrong with it?” He asked.

“It’s like, a million years old and has a bunch of miles on it, but I think it’s the transmission.” 

“Let me take a look at it.” 

“You know anything about cars?” 

“Enough to get by,” he said with a shrug. “If I can't fix it, I know a guy. I’m off today, so I’ll pick you up after your classes are over and take a look at it?”

“Okay, thank you. My last class is over at 2. I’ll meet you where you drop me off.”

“When it snows you’re gonna need chains on your tires and you’re gonna have to learn how to drive in it,” he continued. “Don’t need you crashing because you hit some black ice or anything.” 

He was worried about her? She couldn’t help but admit it was kind of cute, the level of concern in his voice. She tried to hide her smile. 

“I guess I should probably get your number in case I need those lessons,” she said, an attempt to sound smooth. 

He took his phone from where it sat, in a little shelf under the radio, unlocking it and handing it to her without taking his eyes off the road. “Put your number in,” he said casually. 

She looked down at the phone—it wasn’t the same Samsung he had the other day. This was a black iPhone, last year’s model but just beat up enough that he must have had it for a few months. 

“What’s wrong?” He asked when she didn’t move for a moment. 

“Nothing… uh, did you get a new phone?” She asked him, looking at him as she went to input her number in the contacts. 

“No..? Oh!” He laughed, pulling the Samsung from his jeans pocket. “I have one for just work, too.” 

“What do you do?” Mermista asked. 

“Well, I’m a bartender usually at this restaurant downtown by the harbor, but I help my dad and uncle out a little with some stuff, they have a boat manufacturing company, so I have this phone for that.” It was a lie he had rehearsed so many times it flowed freely off of his tongue.

Bartender, that explained the cash stack and … she supposed that helping his dad explained the second phone. She called herself with his phone so she could save his number before returning the phone to its shelf. 

Mermista rolled up the window, the cold starting to become a little much for her. She rubbed her arms as they came up to a red light. She definitely wasn’t used to this weather yet. When he noticed, he shrugged his jacket off and handed it to her. 

“It’s not that much longer of a ride,” she pointed out. 

“For the rest of the day, I’m sure you’ve got breaks between classes and it’s not gonna get any warmer.”

She didn’t argue, taking off her seat belt to put it on as he pulled onto campus. 

“It looks way better on you than me,” he said with a smirk.

She felt the heat rising to her cheeks as she directed him to where the building of her first class, English Literature, was. “Thank you again,” she said as she opened the door. 

He smiled again. “Any time. Literally. You have my number—you need me? I’m there.” 

“See you later, then.”   
  


“See you later, _coisa linda_.”

8:17am **Sea Hawk:** Still want my shift tonight?

8:29am **Octavia** : Sure. It’s ladies night though, you’re giving up those tips? 

8:34am **Sea Hawk:** Yeah. It’s yours. I’ll call. 


	5. Classic

Mermista had English Literature with Catra and Bow, who presented her with half a dozen expertly iced cupcakes. He promised there were no allergens. When they left class, Catra trailed her because they had their next class together, too. 

“Let me get one of those,” she said. 

“No, they’re for someone.”

“Your stalker doesn’t need six cupcakes.”

“He’s upgraded from my stalker to my ride, thank you very much.”

“Gross, I didn’t ask about your sex life,” Catra said, wrinkling her nose.

“That—that—no!” Mermista sputtered. “That’s not what I meant!! Why do you want one so bad? You don’t even like sweets.”

Catra blushed. “Well you know Adora has a big game tomorrow and I just wanted to… give it to her for good luck.” She tucked a strand of dark hair behind her ear. 

“Oh.” Was all Mermista could say. She was pretty sure everyone in their friend group knew that Adora and Glimmer had been low key sleeping together and exploring a relationship, but either Catra didn’t get the memo or she just hadn’t given up. 

When they settled at their usual table in the courtyard, Mermista pulled out the bagel, finally hungry. “Actually, sure, you can have one, but can you do me a favor?” She asked as she spread the cream cheese over it. 

“That depends on the favor.”

“You’re from Brazil, right?” Mermista asked, remembering something the brunette had said during first day introductions. 

“Yeah?”

“And you speak Portugese?”

“Duh.”

“What does  _ coisa linda _ mean?”

Catra laughed. “‘Beautiful thing’ or ‘Hot stuff.’ Why? Who is calling you that?”

“Nobody, nobody, I just heard it somewhere,” Mermista said with a wave of her hand. 

“Whatever. Hand it over, here comes Adora!” 

Mermista reluctantly opened the box where Bow had expertly set the cupcakes, each one with a folded brown paper cup protecting it, and took one out to give to Catra. 

“Hey guys!” Adora said brightly as she approached. 

“‘Sup,” Mermista replied. 

“Hey, Adora,” Catra said. “Here! This is for you! I know you have a big game tomorrow and I wanted to wish you good luck.”

“Wow, thanks Catra!” The blonde responded as she sat on the bench next to Catra and began to remove the paper. “How’d you know I skipped breakfast today?”

Catra shrugged. “Intuition, I guess!”

Mermista rolled her eyes before getting up. “See you in class Catra. Good luck tomorrow, Adora.” She began to gather her things. 

“Oh, wait, hey!” Adora said. “How’s your burn? What happened?” 

“It’s fine. Just being dumb and not knowing how to get off a motorcycle so I burned my leg on the muffler.”

Catra snickered. “Really?” 

“Oh, man, that’s too bad. But you were hanging out with that guy who broke into your apartment?” Adora asked as she dipped her finger into the icing and licked it off. “What’s his name? What’s he like?” 

“Sea Hawk.” Catra snickered again, but stopped when Mermista glared at her. “He’s cool I guess. He helped me study for my Physics exam so…” she trailed off. 

“Does he go here? When do we get to meet him?” 

“No, don’t know, probably never, bye.” She walked away. 

“Bye!” Adora called after her. 

After her next class, Mermista ran into Glimmer after parting ways with Catra. 

“Bow said you had cupcakes!” She exclaimed with bright eyes. Not wanting them to get ruined in her bag, Mermista has been carrying the box around in her hands, so she couldn’t exactly deny it.

“What about it?” Mermista asked, not trying very hard to hide her irritation. 

“Wellll, I spent the night at Adora’s last night so I didn’t get to try them when he was making them…” 

“Okay and?”

“Can I have one?” 

Glimmer had put on her sweetest face, complete with puppy dog eyes as she walked backwards in front of Mermista, her hands clasped together. 

“Uuuugh, fine, but only because I was going to have one to make sure they actually taste good.”

They found a study nook and ducked into it, sitting down on the bench. Mermista handed over a cupcake and took one herself, putting the box on the desk in front of them. She moved the chair so she could put her leg on it. Sea Hawk had been right, elevating it did help a little. 

“Oh, yeah, how’s your burn?”

“It’s fine.” 

“I had a question for you,” Glimmer blurted out as she licked frosting off of her lips. 

“Okay,” Mermista responded dryly as she picked at her own cupcake, pulling off a piece and popping it into her mouth. Bow had done a great job, the cupcakes were cinnamon flavored with a gooey caramel center and cream cheese frosting. 

“You’re bi, right?”

“Yeah?”

“So like…” Glimmer set her cupcake down. 

“Spit it out,” Mermista said when she didn’t continue. 

“Well,” Glimmer pressed her pointer fingers together. “I’ve only ever been with guys before. And I really like Adora! I’m just super nervous and don’t know what to do!”

“What do you mean, what to do?” 

“Well we were making out last night and I think she wanted to go a little bit further but I got nervous and chickened out!” 

Mermista laughed. “What did you do?”

“I pretended my mom called me and left the room! And when I came back I sat on the other end of the couch.” 

“Ooh, poor Adora,” Mermista responded. “Have you never, like, touched yourself?”

“Well yeah…”

“So you basically do that but to her. And with your mouth.” She shrugged. “I honestly just googled it when I thought it might happen.” 

“What was your first time like?”

“With a girl?” 

“Yeah.” 

“Um… awkward but nice, I guess. Neither of us really knew what we were doing so it wasn’t, like, vital that we got it perfect.” 

“Who initiated it?”

Mermista raised an eyebrow. “Who do you think?”

“Of course you did,” Glimmer said with a laugh. “God, I wish I had your confidence. Or maybe just your boobs. I’m sure they help with that.”

Mermista pulled the jacket over her chest “Leave my boobs out of this.”

“Hey, whose jacket is that anyways? I know none of yours are that big.”

“Sea Hawk’s,” Mermista said. Glimmer tilted her head to the side in question. “The guy who broke into my apartment.”

“You’re a hot ass mess,” Glimmer said.

“Tell me about it,” Mermista replied. 

“His name sounds so familiar though, I wonder why.”

༄༄༄

There was a rave coming that weekend, so Sea Hawk had an especially busy Thursday. He rarely did individual sales anymore, mostly just distributed to a handful of individuals he had met over the last decade or so. 

He started out selling pot to his friends in high school. His uncle had been importing it at the time. His dad did what he could to keep Sea Hawk and his brothers away from his uncle after buying Marinho Watercrafts out from under him, but that was around the time his partners got divorced and his dad decided he was already a fuck up and stopped caring what he did. 

Uncle Jorge separated himself from Marinho Watercrafts after realizing just how much larger the margins were on the black market. He bought and sold anything from marijuana to crystal on the deep web, but also imported it to Salineas for distribution. Sea Hawk didn’t want to touch heroin or coke, but he was fine with marijuana and hallucinogens. He wasn’t looking to ruin lives, just selling something that he figured should already be regulated and sold in stores. 

His uncle taught him so much, from setting up a VPN to shooting a gun to laundering the cash. He had two good friends distributing for him in school, stopped for a bit when he went to Berkeley and jumped right back in when he returned to Salineas. He liked being able to tip big, to send money to his mom in Arizona, to buy whatever the hell he felt like, to add another 0 to his bank account, and to be able to take care of the people he loved. 

The worst part was the gangs, but he could handle himself and for the most part avoided stepping on toes. He was careful. For the most part. 

His last drop of the day was his newest recruit, Rogelio. He backed into the parking spot in front of the condo and popped open the liftgate. Rogelio was already outside, grabbing his boxes and motioning for Sea Hawk to follow him inside for payment. 

He didn’t talk much, but he and Sea Hawk had gone way back. He was the son of his dad’s main mechanic, so he and Sea Hawk had been smoking together since Rogelio was 14 and Sea Hawk was 17. When he asked to deal, Sea Hawk told him he needed to finish high school and enroll in college before he even considered it. When he had done all that, Sea Hawk made good on his end of the deal and brought him along to a drop, gave him a rundown of how things worked and sent him out. 

He wasn’t sure if it was the kid’s enormous frame, his bustling social life or his intimidating and silent demeanor, but he sold faster and profited more than any of the other guys. 

Rogelio already had a joint rolled and offered it to Sea Hawk, who lit it and took the first hit before handing it back over. When Rogelio tried to pass it back, he put up a hand. 

“Nah, I have to be coherent to look at my girl—my friend’s car.” Rogelio nodded and got up, leaving the room. He was going to lend Sea Hawk a diagnostic tool to see what issues the car might be having, to see if Sea Hawk was capable of fixing it or if it needed to be seen by an actual mechanic. 

He returned to the room with a wad of cash for the drop and the tool in hand. Sea Hawk thanked him and left, heading back to the University. 

When he pulled up, he had the windows rolled down and MKTO’s “Classic” blasting on the radio. He was singing along to it loudly, catching her eye and pointing at her. 

Mermista felt herself go bright red as she noticed people were staring, including Glimmer who was sitting with her, now laughing into her hand. She got out of class as soon as she finished her exam, so a little earlier than usual. Glimmer had been texting her frantically asking for more advice, it seemed like the google results confused her more than anything. 

“I like him already!” Glimmer said excitedly and Mermista covered her face with her hands and groaned. Glimmer elbowed her and she slid off of the table she had been sitting on, approaching the Volvo. She was shaking her head at Sea Hawk and making a throat cutting motion, but he persisted. 

“Oh my god you are so embarrassing,” she said as she opened the door and got in, reaching to turn the radio down. She shoved the box of cupcakes at him. 

“Here. I got you something. But my friends are sharks so now you have half of something.” 

She wouldn’t look at him as he gasped. “Thank you!” he said, putting a hand on her knee, squeezing it gently, the touch sending a shock through her stomach. He didn’t move his hand after. She looked down at it, then up at him. He was focused on the road. 

“Yeah, sure, it’s for driving me and looking at my car and… stuff,” she said, trying to act distracted by her phone. She glanced over at him to find him looking at her, for just a moment, smiling like an idiot.

When they got back to her apartment and parked by her car in the alleyways, Sea Hawk lifted the hood and propped it open. Mermista stood next to him as they both just looked at it for a moment.

“Well, it certainly is an engine,” she said. 


	6. Hips, Your Lips, They’re Mine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sea Hawk figures out what’s wrong with Mermista’s car, and she thanks him for it.

“Okay, so I don’t think I can fix it all. The diagnostics say that your fuel injector is causing the problem. The connectors to your battery are super corroded which isn’t helping, and you’re probably gonna just want to get a new one anyways. When was your last oil change?” 

Mermista considered it, leaning against the side of the hood with her arms crossed. “April I think?” 

“Okay, that’s actually not too bad.”

“But then I drove across the country, so… probably due for another one especially since it’s been sitting here for a month.” 

“You’re using full synthetic, right?”

Mermista shrugged. “My dad always changed it for me, I have no idea what that means.” 

“What were your plans when you moved here and needed one?” Sea Hawk crossed his arms and cocked an eyebrow at her. 

“I don’t know, make friends who know stuff about cars or like, find a place that does oil changes. It didn’t matter when it stopped turning on,” Mermista groaned. 

“Hey, don’t worry about it,” Sea Hawk said, coming over and putting an arm around her shoulders. “I’ll get it taken care of.” 

“I can’t let you do that, I have a job interview tomorrow and I’ll just like, take the bus or walk until I can afford to get it fixed.” 

Sea Hawk was already on the phone. 

“Oi, é o Sebastian. Como você tá? Ótimo! Escuta, preciso te pedir um favor. Eu tenho um carro que precisa ser guinchado, precisa de um injetor de combustível e bateria. Jetta 99. É. Pode substituir o que for preciso. Claro, você sabe que eu tenho. Obrigado! Tchau.”

After he hung up, he gave her a quick but reassuring squeeze before moving to drop the hood. “They’re gonna have a tow truck here in an hour and he said he’d return it in two days unless he finds something else wrong with it.” 

Mermista turned to face him, chewing on her lip. “Sea Hawk, I can't let you do that. I know that’s all like, way too much.” 

He leaned forward, placing his palms on the hood and leaning on them, a position that _really_ showed off his biceps. “Too bad, it’s already done. It’s not gonna be that much, my guy just charges me for parts usually. And even if it was, don’t worry about it. I got you.” He grinned. “If you wanna pay me back, buy me dinner or something.” _Anything to keep this going,_ he thought. 

“Why are you doing all of this?” Mermista asked, arms still wrapped around her torso. Sea Hawk walked around her so she was between him and the hood of the car, just inches away so she had to look up to meet his eyes. 

“Because I can. Because I want to. Because, I like you, Mermista.” He said, the words pouring out of his mouth like syrup. He didn’t move. 

Mermista closed the distance between them, wrapping an arm around his neck and standing on her toes to meet his height, pressing herself into him as she kissed him. 

He didn’t hesitate—his hands were on her hips, his hips pushing her back against the hood of the car, his thigh finding its way between her legs as he lifted her up onto the hood, like she weighed nothing. He moved one hand up to the nape of her neck, tangling it into her hair and the other down to her ass, pulling her even closer. The way his fingers felt in her hair and friction of his thigh between her legs was already making her wet. 

It had been a while, okay?

After what seemed like forever, but also just too soon, he pulled back to breathe and they were both panting, his forehead pressed against hers. 

“Wanna take this upstairs?” Mermista asked, looking up at him through dark eyelashes. 

“Fuck, yeah,” Sea Hawk said breathlessly as he stepped back. Her flushed cheeks and swollen lips were driving him insane. He stepped back and she easily slid off the hood of the car, grabbing her bag before leading him to the front door of the building. 

The door code didn’t work. She tried it again. 

“Ugh, really?” Today, of all days? She grabbed her phone from her pocket and quickly dialed Perfuma as Sea Hawk rocked back and forth on his heels, then wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her backside against him, resting his chin on the top of her head. “Hey, did they change the code again? What is it?” It took Perfuma a painfully long time to find it. Mermista typed in the numbers Perfuma read out to her, saying a quick “thanks” and hanging up before yanking the door open. 

“They fixed the elevator yesterday,” she said as she headed towards it. 

“Cool,” Sea Hawk said. As soon as the elevator doors closed she had her arms around his neck again, their faces pressed together, and his hands were right on her ass, pulling her closer. His tongue was in her mouth, dancing with hers, and his thigh parted hers once again. She couldn’t stop herself from letting out a soft moan into his mouth. 

The elevator dinged open, and someone cleared their throat. Mermista pulled away from Sea Hawk, her face reddening as she turned to her next door neighbor. The one who always smelled like tuna fish and kitty litter. 

“Hi, Mr. Hadley,” she said as she and Sea Hawk exited the elevator. Her neighbor rolled his eyes as they entered the elevator, glaring at her until the doors shut. The pair immediately started laughing when the doors closed, Mermista taking his hand and leading him to her apartment door. She fumbled with the key for a second before jamming it in, his hand on her upper thigh with his thumb approaching dangerously close to the spot between her legs was not helping the situation any. 

Perfuma and Scorpia were cuddled on the couch watching a baking competition. Well, Perfuma was, Scorpia was knocked out. 

“Hey,” Mermista whispered. “We’ll be in my room.” 

Perfuma made a circle with her thumb and index finger and winked at Sea Hawk, who followed Mermista to her bedroom. 

She tossed her phone onto the bed, then it was a competition to see who could undress faster. She was kicking off her shoes and he yanked his shirt off over his head as she shed his jacket. His fingers were unbuttoning her over shirt and her hands were on his belt. 

He stopped her for a moment—“You don’t feel like you have to do this, do you?” Mermista tilted her head to the side, a silent question. “I don’t want you to feel like you have to hook up with me because I’m getting your car fixed,” he clarified. 

“Oh,” Mermista laughed, her eyes dark and dangerous. “No, I _want_ to fuck you.” 

[CONTENT WARNING — SEXUALLY EXPLICIT — SKIP AHEAD TO THE NEXT CHAPTER IF YOU DON’T WANT TO READ IT]

She moved her hand to his bulge and gripped it to confirm her words.

He shivered when she ran her palm up his hard on, held to his leg by his jeans, fumbling with the button on her shirt before just pulling both the button up and her tank top over her head, kicking off his own shoes as she returned her hands to his jeans, unbuckling them and letting them fall off of his waist to reveal black boxer briefs. 

For a moment, he was thankful that he left the gun in the glove compartment of the Volvo. 

“You can be rough with me,” she breathed as she felt him up, stepping closer and kissing him again. “I’ll let you know if it becomes too much.”

He stepped out of his jeans and she ran her nails down his chiseled chest as she dropped to her knees, not wasting a moment before pulling down the waistband of his boxers and taking his dick out, looking up at him as she ran her tongue up it’s length, gripping it as she licked the precum off of his tip and then taking it into her warm, wet mouth without breaking eye contact. He moaned softly as he took his boxers the rest of the way off, kicking them to the side as she went down on him. She had her hands on his thighs as she slowly took him inch by inch, gauging his reaction as she took his full length into her mouth, pressing him as far back into her throat as she could. He fumbled with her bra clasp for a moment before she reached back and unhooked it with one hand, letting it fall off of her shoulders and onto the floor. She felt his hands on the back her head, nodding at him to keep going as he began to hold her head there, thrusting inside of her mouth, fucking the back of her throat, fingers tangled into her hair. 

She couldn’t help but moan, her eyes watering, but she kept eye contact with him until he couldn’t anymore, lifting his chin and squeezing his eyes closed as he let out a guttural groan, pulling her hair as he bucked his hips against her lips. She dug her nails into his thigh and he let her hair go so she could pull back and catch her breath, running her tongue around the soft tip. 

“I’ll swallow, just warn me,” she breathed before taking him back in, massaging his balls with one hand, enjoying the pleasure etched across his handsome face as she took him deep into her throat. After a moment she was moaning again, and it wasn’t long before he was warning her, holding the back of her head with his hands. 

“I’m c-close,” he choked out, his erection twitching against her tongue. She braced herself and not a moment later felt him empty into her throat, moaning. “ _Porra,”_ he sighed as he finished, looking down as she pulled back, making sure to lick off any remaining cum from the tip. “Fuck, you’re amazing,” he breathed, pulling her up to her feet, kissing her, finally getting to touch her full breasts as they pressed against his chest. 

He threw her back onto the bed, unbuttoning her jeans and sliding them off with her panties before climbing on top of her. He used his thumb to wipe the mascara that had run under her eyes and caressed the side of her head as he just took in her gorgeous body. Messy azure hair splayed out across the bed, half lidded amber eyes, flushed cheeks, swollen lips slightly parted, her chest heaving as she panted. “You are so beautiful.” He took a nipple into his mouth as he moved a hand to the space between her thighs, already slick and moist, parting her lips with his fingers. She inhaled sharply as his touch sent ripples through her body. 

“Wait, wait, just a sec,” she stammered, looking around for her phone. “Can you hand me that?” She asked, pointing at a bottle of water on her nightstand. He grabbed it and broke the seal before handing it over. She sat up to drink while opening up Spotify on her phone and connecting it to a Bluetooth speaker. Sea Hawk admired her figure while he waited. Martin Solveig’s “Do it Right” suddenly filled the room. She replaced the cap on the water and smirked at Sea Hawk, taking his jaw in her hand and leaning forward for a kiss, biting his lip and pulling back with it between her teeth before letting go and laying back, commanding, “continue.”

He didn’t waste a second this time, moving down so his face was hovering over the space between her thighs. He quickly hooked her thighs over his shoulders, spreading her legs so he could bury his face in the space between them, separating and penetrating her lips with his tongue, moving his way up and around her clit, sucking on her. 

The whimpers he brought from her were so beautiful, he felt himself growing hard again. He slid a finger inside of her, then two, enjoying the way her walls gripped them as he kept pleasuring her, alternating between nibbling at her thighs and lips and circling his tongue around her clit. 

She had been so worked up by now that it didn’t take much to finish her off, and she had her hands in his hair, pushing his head down as she lifted her hips, she wanted more, she needed more, even as the orgasm was rushing through her as he continued to thrust his fingers deep inside of her. 

“Do you have a condom?” He asked as he moved over her again, kissing her stomach. 

“Mmhm,” she breathed, sitting up and moving to crawl over to the nightstand. She opened the drawer, taking out a foil package. As she was bent over, he moved to smack her ass. She turned, pushing him onto his back and climbing on top of him, admiring his hard member as it stood at attention for her. She stroked him with one hand while she opened the package and put on the condom with the other. 

“Okay?” She asked, and he nodded, a lazy smile across his face. 

She moved over him, rubbing his tip between her lips before moving it to her entrance and slowly lowering herself onto him, feeling that shockwave as he fills her, both of them moaning softly at the feeling. 

“Fuck, you feel so good,” he said, his eyes closed, as she began to grind against him, leaning back so he’d hit her at just the right spot. She began moving her hips in a figure eight as she got used to his size and then started bouncing up and down on top of him, unable to control the pleasured moans that came out of her throat. She moved her hand to the space between her thighs and he was mesmerized as he watched her, touching herself on top of him, her big breasts bouncing up and down with her movements. 

Sea Hawk felt her walls tightening around him again. “You gonna come?” He gripped her luscious thighs and began to buck his hips to meet her motions, going deeper, harder. “You gonna come riding my cock?” He asked as he watched her eyes roll back, her mouth coming open, breathing _yes_ , as she dropped down once more, collapsing on top of him, her whole body shaking as she came with a loud groan, the hot liquid running down his cock and onto the sheets. 

“ _Gostosa_ ,” he whispered in her ear as he held her, kissing her neck softly. Mermista was panting as she came down from it. He took her waist and put her on her back, getting on top of her again. 

“You said you don’t mind it rough, but you haven’t proved it to me,” he teased, his dick still hard inside of her as he nipped at her neck, biting her collar bone and moving to take her nipple in his mouth. 

“Show me what you’ve got,” she bit back. He pulled out of her. 

“Get on your hands and knees,” he commanded. “You’ll let me know if it’s too much?” He asked when she did as she was told. leaning over her as he teased her with the head of his erection.

“Yeah,” she responded breathily, eager to feel him inside of her again. “Just fuck me.”

Sea Hawk shoved himself inside of her, listening to her bite back a moan as he gripped the headboard to steady himself, using the other hand to push her down into the pillow, enjoying the way she gripped the sheets and her muffled moans. He then moved his hand to her hair, grabbing a fistful and pulling her head back. 

“Aah!” Mermista called out as he slammed against her, his thighs smacking loudly against her perfect ass with every thrust. He untangled his fingers from her hair, pushing her back into the pillow as he felt her tightening around his cock again, slapping her ass hard enough to instantly leave a welt, her scream muffled by the pillow. 

“That’s right, sweet girl, come for me,” he said gruffly as she began to tremble, her thighs shaking under him as she came around his cock again, almost pushing him out with the pressure. One more thrust into her was all it took for him to finish, emptying himself into the condom with a satisfied groan. When he was finished, he pulled himself out of her and pulled her close to him, spooning her. He brushed the hair out of her face, tucking it behind her ear, pressing a kiss to the back of her neck with a satisfied sigh. 

“Fuck,” was all she could say. 


	7. Girls / Girls / Boys

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mermista reminisces about her friendship with Perfuma, and they talk about her future with Sea Hawk.

12:28pm  **Sea Hawk:** Good luck at your interview, gatinha!

12:32pm  **Mermista:** Thanks 

The hours leading up to an interview were nerve wracking. Mermista had already had a few in the last month, but most of them wouldn’t work with her school and swim schedule or didn’t like that she didn’t have a car. Her scholarship and grants covered her tuition and living expenses, but didn’t leave room for things like fixing her car or food. She was desperately trying to avoid putting things on her credit card, if she could. 

Plus, Mermista liked working. It was a distraction. A distraction from the night before, where she spent the better part of the evening with Sea Hawk in her bed. They ordered in for dinner and watched a couple of bad horror movies. A distraction from the bruises and hickeys he left on her thighs, her chest. From her physics homework, which she had all weekend to do still, it was fine. A distraction from the payback Perfuma and Scorpia were currently paying her, the thin wall between their bedrooms not enough to filter out the sounds of them in Perfuma’s bed. 

Mermista groaned and connected her phone to her speakers, turning on music to drown them out. She rolled over to her side, staring at her texts, where Sea Hawk hadn’t written back. 

It was cool, okay? She didn’t need constant validation . She didn’t. It’s not like she really gave him much to reply to. And he had a whole life outside of her, she was sure he was busy. It was fine. 

Bow had texted her earlier asking how the cupcakes panned out and she typed out a response, not getting into any details. Catra asked about their homework for English Lit and Mermista sent her a screenshot of the assignment. Glimmer asked about how the night before went, but she left her on read. Perfuma was Mermista’s confidant, she didn’t feel comfortable laying herself out there for just anyone, especially when she hadn’t even had time to tell Perfuma. Not that Perfuma didn’t know. She just didn’t get to tell her how she was feeling about it. 

She hadn’t even really had time to process how she was feeling about it herself. She must have drifted back to sleep, because a soft knock on her door woke her up. 

“What?” She called, groggily glancing at the screen on her phone. It was 2:30, she still had plenty of time. 

“Can I come in?” Perfuma asked through the door.

“Yeah,” Mermista said, sitting up and lifting her arms over her head as she yawned. 

“Oh, did I wake you up?” the blonde asked as she opened the door. 

“S’ cool, I didn’t mean to fall asleep,” Mermista said, scooting over so Perfuma could sit next to her on the bed. “Did Scorpia go home?” She asked, noting Perfuma’s damp hair and the fresh smell of her conditioner. 

“Mmmhmm,” Perfuma sighed happily. It was gross, really, how cute they were together. They cared about each other a LOT and Mermista was just waiting for Perfuma to ask her if Scorpia could move in with them. Less rent to pay? Mermista was all for it. And Scorpia was cool, even if she could be a little… much sometimes. “But that’s not what I want to talk about.”

“Okay…” In her head, Mermista went over everything she could have done wrong in the last week. Did she forget to wash the toothpaste out of the sink that morning? Had she eaten Perfuma’s leftovers or thrown out something important while cleaning out the fridge? Did she use up all of the hot water? Leave her panties on the bathroom floor? Was last night like, way too much? 

“How do you feel about last night?” Perfuma asked, getting straight to the point. Mermista almost wished her friend wasn’t this straightforward and open. 

“Ummm what do you mean?” Mermista asked, picking at her cuticles. 

“Don’t act so coy, the whole apartment building heard the two of you.” She laughed when Mermista looked at her with wide eyes and flushed cheeks. “I’m just kidding! I respect whatever you choose to do with your body and who you choose to share it with. But I want you to know I’m here if you want to talk about it.”

Mermista groaned as she laid back down on her pillow, turning to face the wall. “I guess I don’t really know how I feel,” she sighed after a moment. “It’s not like I’ve never done that before—slept with someone who was practically a stranger.”

Perfuma joined her, climbing under the blanket, her cold bare feet brushing Mermista’s legs as she wrapped her arms around her from behind. Mermista wasn’t like this with anyone she wasn’t trying to sleep with, this soft and cuddly person, but Perfuma was different. They had been friends since they were kids, Perfuma’s parents were drifters, transporting her from Laie, Hawaii to Miami for a few years before taking her out to Arizona, then California for her high school years. Mermista was twelve when they first met, they had moved into the house next door to Mermista’s and they had a pool. 

Donning her favorite teal bikini and a pair of heart-shaped sunglasses, Mermista marched over one day while Perfuma was lounging on an inflatable float in the middle of the water. 

“Can I join you?” She asked, lowering her sunglasses to look at the blonde, daring her to say no. 

“Sure,” Perfuma responded shyly. “I like your hair,” she offered after Mermista took off her flip flops and dumped her towel on a lawn chair before slipping into the water. 

“I like your bathing suit,” Mermista responded. 

They spent the afternoon dunking each other, chatting, finding out they were going to the same middle school that fall. The rest of the summer was spent gossiping by the pool or at the beach, walking to the nearest gas station and getting ice pops, going to the mall. Mermista’s brash personality complimented Perfuma’s timid demeanor perfectly. Perfuma had a tendency to be short tempered and impatient, but Mermista could almost always reason with her, grounding her and keeping it real. Perfuma reeled Mermista back to shore when she needed to, and Mermista brought out a side of Perfuma that even her parents were surprised to see. 

When they were fourteen, Mermista was popping out of bras faster than she could replace them and leggings became more comfortable than jeans because she felt bloated all the time and she was swimming competitively so  _ why was she gaining all of this weight?! _ All the while, her cousins were aging gracefully and commenting on her weight. Perfuma was too—she still fit into her 00 jeans and just seemed to get taller while the rest of her remained wispy. Even their periods were opposite—Mermista’s were painful, heavy and made her moody while keeping her out of the pool, and Perfuma hardly noticed hers at all.

Mermista couldn’t help but resent her for that—while she was feeling gross and fat and  _ angry _ , Perfuma was looking hot and practically glowing all the time. At the end of the day, though, Perfuma was the one who made her find her confidence again. She was eager to help Mermista find clothes that made her feel good, even if it took all day, always had chocolate and Midol and Mermista’s favorite flavor of ice cream handy for the bad days, always hyped her up on the school bus, between classes and at her swim meets. She even convinced Mermista to get on the cheer squad with her. Sometime during the fall of their freshman year, that irritation quickly evolved into admiration and then a big fat crush. 

Mermista missed out on homecoming that year because she had a swim meet in a different county that afternoon and wouldn’t be ready in time. They had a sleepover planned after so Perfuma could tell Mermista everything she missed out on.

Mermista broke into her dad’s liquor cabinet and they got drunk off of cheap vodka mixed with Mio flavor drops — Blue Raspberry, the best kind, in Mermista’s opinion. They gathered every blanket and pillow in the house and a few from Perfuma’s and made a huge cozy pile on Mermista’s bedroom floor, setting up Perfuma’s laptop and watching scary movies. Perfuma was still covered in glitter from homecoming, and Mermista still smelled like chlorine from the pool as they curled up under a blanket together. They were laughing and gossiping between scenes, and Perfuma was so cute when she buried her face into Mermista’s neck during gory scenes. 

The vodka gave Mermista the courage she needed to finally do what she’d been aching to for the last few months. 

She took her best friend’s hand in hers and intertwined their fingers clumsily. Perfuma’s smile made them both burst into a fit of giggles. When Mermista saw her moment, she grabbed Perfuma’s face, a little too aggressively, and kissed her, hard 

It was both of their first kisses, and Perfuma pulled back, her expression melting from shocked to sad. 

“I’m sorry!” Mermista immediately blurted out, pulling away from her friend. 

Perfuma leaned forward and gave her a pat on the thigh. “It’s okay,” she squeaked out. 

“Please just… forget that ever happened,” Mermista said, tears burning her eyes, closing the laptop and getting up. Perfuma grabbed her arm and pulled her back down, taking Mermista’s face into her hands.

“Mermista,” she said, as sternly as she could in her drunken state. “I love you. So much. And you are  _ sooooo _ beautiful. And you’re my  _ best friend. _ ”

Mermista sniffled as she stared into Perfuma’s dark eyes. 

“I love you, but not in that way. And I don’t want you to be sad.” She pulled Mermista into tight hug. “I was gonna wait until tomorrow to tell you but… my mom got a new job and we’re moving at the end of the semester.”

Mermista felt like she had just been slapped, and she wasn’t even sure which words hurt more. After embarrassing herself to this degree, now she had to face high school on her own? A huge lump formed in her throat as she tried not to cry. She pulled Perfuma into the pile of blankets with her, hugging her with her forehead on her chest while Perfuma silently rubbed her back until they both fell asleep with the lights still on. 

When she left, Mermista and Perfuma kept up with FaceTime and phone calls. It wasn’t quite the same, and as they both made other friends the calls became less frequent. Mermista’s dad didn’t have the kind of money to fly Mermista out to California to visit, and Perfuma’s parents were too scared of kidnappers to let Perfuma go to Miami on her own, so they made do with what they had. Mermista started surfing, dying her hair blue, getting more and more piercings in her ears, nose and belly button, and began smoking pot. She pursued other crushes, even had a long term boyfriend for a couple of years, but they broke up just before graduation. Then she kind of spiraled into a Tinder addiction that Perfuma put a stop to when they moved in together. 

“Stop trying to fill a void with other people,” she’d said. “Also, your standards are stooping dangerously low and I don’t want you getting hurt.” It wasn’t to be shitty or slut shame her — her body count didn’t matter, Perfuma insisted — she just wanted her friend to be safe and make healthy choices for both her body and her mind. And the way Mermista acted after those first few hookups in Salineas was not healthy or good for her mind.

Mermista wouldn’t admit it, but the main reason she enrolled in Bright Moon was because Perfuma was going there. Her crush was long gone — replaced with a strong admiration for her friend who managed to funnel that impatience and anger into meditation and marijuana and turn it into love and acceptance. Also, she’d been dating Scorpia for like eight months at that point.

She told herself it would be good to start college with a friend. It helped that she didn’t have to move in with a stranger. And she just missed her, a lot. Bitching over facetime about her ex with a three hour time difference just wasn’t the same as bitching while being the little spoon, ok? And her other friends? Other than being tagged in memories on Facebook, she barely interacted with them now. 

“It’s just like, he’s so nice and I’m not used to that. And, dude. He. Fucks. So. Good.” Mermista sighed, relaxing into Perfuma’s embrace. 

“So I heard,” Perfuma giggled. “I know it’s been a while, though.” 

“Only like, two months,” Mermista corrected her, remembering the girl she met at orientation and brought home that night before never speaking with her again. They didn’t exchange numbers and when they passed each other on campus, Mermista looked right through her. It just wasn’t going to be more than a one-time thing. 

“Oh, yeah,” Perfuma said softly. “But he’s different, isn’t he?” 

“Do you think I’m crazy?” Mermista asked. “Going after some guy who just, like, broke into our apartment with a bloody nose then insisted on taking me out to dinner after?”

“Then took care of you when you got hurt and paid to get your car fixed?” Perfuma added. “No. I think if you’re enjoying the time you’re spending together and he’s not pressuring you to do anything you don’t want to do, then you should do what makes you happy.” 

“Yeah but…” Mermista trailed off. 

“But what?” Perfuma asked, stroking Mermista’s hair. 

“I just don’t get it. He’s obviously older and well-off and even if he’s a little odd, he’s really attractive and nice? So what does he see in me?”

“Well, you’re really intelligent and have amazing style, you’re funny and have a great pair of shoulders and the nicest butt, you’re honest and raw and bring out the best in people. And even though you act like you’re not, you’re really caring and a great friend.” 

“Aww, you think I have a nice butt?” Mermista teased, smacking the arm Perfuma had wrapped around her. 

“Who wouldn’t?” Perfuma laughed, smacking Mermista’s butt playfully. “When’s your interview?”

“Five,” Mermista said with a small sigh. “I guess I should get ready, I think it’s a 30 minute walk and I wanna get there early.” She rolled over to her back and stretched as Perfuma sat up. “God, isn’t it nice to not be in Florida or California?” Her weather app was still set to Miami, so she knew it was like, 98 degrees Fahrenheit with 70% humidity. It was gonna be in the 70s all weekend in Salineas. If it had broken down in Miami, fixing her car would have been a way more important task if she didn’t want to arrive to places drenched in sweat and looking like a poodle. 

“Sure is,” Perfuma said. “Show me what you’re wearing? I can straighten your hair, if you want.” 


	8. Fine, Great

Sea Hawk woke up way too early to the sound of his phone ringing. He checked the caller ID, groaned and pressed ignore before turning over. Then it rang again. And again. 

“Que é, pai?” He answered, sitting up and not bothering to hide his irritation. 

“I need you to watch Jacob and Sandra this weekend,” his father said with an edge to his voice, like Sea Hawk was the last person he wanted to be speaking to at that moment. “Lily and I have to make a last minute trip out of town and won’t be back until late Monday night.”

“I have work,” Sea Hawk responded, stifling a yawn. 

“What you do is hardly work, Sebastian.” Sea Hawk bit his tongue, not wanting to even honor that with a response or give his dad the satisfaction of knowing how frustrating that was to hear. 

“Regardless,” he began through gritted teeth after a moment, then paused. He ran a hand through his hair as he tried to ground himself, then pinched the bridge of his nose. “Escuta. Find them a babysitter for 4:45-12:30 tonight and tomorrow and I’ll pick them up from school this afternoon and take care of the rest.”

“Good.” His father responded, then hung up.

The display on his phone said it was 4:32am. 

Sea Hawk groaned and fell back onto his pillow, letting his phone drop to the bed as he did. What time did he get home from Mermista’s last night? 

Mmm, Mermista… the sight of her underneath him, spread open and vulnerable, the sounds she made when he was inside of her… the way her body reacted, trembling and shuddering under his touch… the shocks she sent through his body with her lips, tongue and fingertips… the feeling of her on top of him, grinding against him and the way her curves felt under his fingertips. Even after, the way she snuggled into his chest and fell fast asleep as he played with her hair, half asleep rubbing her eyes while she got dressed after he woke her up to say he had to go. He fell back to sleep with those images playing on a loop in his head. 

His alarm went off a few hours later. 

The too early wake up call left him groggy and disoriented as he trudged to the bathroom, brushing his teeth and admiring the bruise Mermista left above his collarbone and the places her nails marked him on his biceps and shoulders while the shower heated up. 

After the shower, he turned on the Samsung and read the messages over coffee and fried eggs on toast with a blunt, his morning routine. Rogelio wanted more product so Sea Hawk told him to be there in four hours to pick it up. A few of the people he still did individual sales with were trying to get in contact with him so he gave them time slots, too. 

On his regular phone, his step mother Lily had sent him the babysitter’s information, the password that would let him pick up his siblings from school, as well as the garage code so he could grab Sandy’s car seat later and get in and out of the house over the weekend.

8:43am **Lily Marinho** : thanks so much for doing this last minute Sebastian! Sorry we couldn’t see you before we left! xoxo I wired you some money to pay the babysitter and a little extra for your troubles!!

Just like he didn’t deserve his mom, Sea Hawk’s dad didn’t deserve Lily, either. She was a total sweetheart. Opening up his banking app, he chuckled and shook his head at the deposit of a thousand dollars. He typed out a response and a knock on his door pulled him away. The next four hours were a blur of smoke, sales and people. Rogelio and his boyfriend, Kyle, were the last to show up.

They were an interesting pair, Rogelio tall, broad and quiet, Kyle short, scrawny and full of nervous chatter. It took a while for Kyle to warm up to Sea Hawk. It wasn’t until after he became a dishwasher for SeaWorthy’s a few months back that he’d even come to Sea Hawk’s townhouse. And right now he was laughing on the couch, Sea Hawk’s bong in one hand and Rogelio’s in the other. Sea Hawk asked if he was working that night and he shook his head. 

“No, I wish I was though, Lonnie said her friend had an interview today so we might be getting another waitress in time for season.” Lonnie, one of the waitresses at the bar and a good friend of Rogelio and Kyle’s. 

Interview! That reminded him! 

12:28pm **Sea Hawk** : Good luck at your interview, gatinha!

12:32pm **Mermista** : Thanks 

Sea Hawk made a mental note to think of something charming to respond to her with as Rogelio laid out a pile of cash on the table, Sea Hawk’s cut of the last drop, and followed Sea Hawk down stairs to the garage. The garage led to the laundry room, which originally had an attached half-bathroom that Sea Hawk had gutted and converted into storage behind a false wall lined with shelving. He slid the washer and dryer out to create space to swing the wall open, revealing the walk-in closet with walls lined with boxes of pills, sealed bags of flower in airtight boxes and, newer additions due to requests, vials of vape concentrate and a few varieties of candy edibles. 

It was Rogelio’s first time in Sea Hawk’s candy shop, and the expression on his face was exactly as Sea Hawk anticipated. Astonishment and wonder. 

“If you ever get busted, can I have your house?” Rogelio joked. 

“Sure,” Sea Hawk chuckled. “‘Cause that’s never gonna happen.” 

“Wouldn’t some of that be stale?” Kyle asked, pointing at the boxes of flower lined up on the shelf, each labeled with the strain. 

“You think it stays on these shelves long?” Sea Hawk responded, cocky. “It’s ok for like six months to a year, but I think the oldest ones in here are from June.”

“Ah,” Kyle responded, stepping back when Rogelio emerged from the garage with a cardboard box. 

“Take whatever you think you’ll sell,” Sea Hawk said, boosting himself up to sit on the washer. Rogelio nodded and began to read the labels, picking out bags and dropping them into the box. After some time, it was full and Sea Hawk whistled. “Feeling lucky this weekend?” He asked, and Rogelio nodded as he exited the closet, closing the wall behind him. Sea Hawk slid off of the washer and returned it and the dryer back to their positions. 

“We’re going to the rave,” Rogelio said after a moment. 

“Yeah?” Sea Hawk asked.

“Are you coming?” Kyle asked. 

“And risk getting my ass kicked by some wannabe gangsters?” Sea Hawk responded with a laugh. “No, thanks. I always get myself into trouble at those things, and besides, I don’t do small-time sales, and I don’t take hallucinogens unless it’s a special occasion, so, no profit for me.”

It wasn’t that Sea Hawk went looking for trouble, but he kept his suppliers on a contract that stopped them from distributing to others in the region. And nobody had higher quality bud or better Molly than his guys did. That rubbed some of the other dealers in the area the wrong way, but aliases and the weight his real name carried kept his identities pretty isolated from each other. Not to mention, he kept a tight knit group of sellers that he distributed exclusively for him and would rather settle problems with him directly than bring in outsiders. 

Plus, googling Sea Hawk brought in little more than a plethora of articles and memes about football, so the nickname he’d had since he was ten worked out perfectly. 

He left them coke, meth, illicit prescription meds and opiates, what more did they want from him? 

After Kyle and Rogelio left, Sea Hawk got a bag ready for the long weekend, changed into his work clothes and prepared to run some errands before he had to pick up his siblings from school. He called the mechanic for an estimate of the cost to repair it, then opened the safe at the bottom of his bedroom closet and grabbed a few stacks of cash and added it to the money Rogelio brought. 

Four grand for his mom, twenty-five hundred for the mechanic, 600 for his car payment and 600 to put into the ATM at the bank with his paycheck that night. He tucked the mechanic’s money into an envelope and added his mom’s to a package he’d already prepared for her with some of her favorite snacks and a pound of coffee from the local coffee house she liked. 

Sending his mom money had been a thing for as long as he was able to. His brothers did it before him, and maybe they still did, he didn’t know—they all knew she got royally fucked over in the divorce, both financially and with custody. As soon as Sea Hawk turned 18 and went off to college, she moved to Arizona to get away from his dad. He couldn’t visit as often as he wanted, and she couldn’t keep up with him on social media anymore, so this was a trade off. He had the money and knowing she was well taken care of just made him feel better about being so far away. 

He’d move to be closer to her, but Salineas and this work was all he really knew. He couldn’t say goodbye to the ocean, to this city, to the friends he’d made or the family he had there. 

The errands and picking up the car seat took just enough time to get him in the parent pick-up line at Salineas Elementary before it became overcrowded. Jack and Sandy were practically vibrating when he stepped out of the Jeep to hand his ID and give their password to the pick-up attendant. 

“Bazzz!” Sandy shouted, throwing her arms up so he could pick her up in a bear hug. 

“Hey kiddo,” he said to his half-sister. “You guys ready to spend the weekend with your coolest big brother?”

“Oh! Sebastian Marinho. I thought you looked familiar!” She said as she scanned over his driver’s license. “You went to Sea Gate High, right? I think you were a year below me.”

“Sure did, but I go by Sea Hawk,” Sea Hawk said, turning to get Sandy into her car seat as Jack went around to get in on the other side. When he shut the door on her, he glanced at her name tag. “Oh, yeah, I think you’re right, Marissa. You’re teaching now?” 

She adjusted her posture, leaning into him. “Second grade. You sure have grown up a lot. What have you been up to?”

“Oh, just doing what I can,” he said nonchalantly as the car behind his pressed on their horn. “I should get going,” he added, opening his car door. 

“Hey, wait,” Marissa said, scribbling something onto her clip board. He rolled down the window so she could hand him the piece of paper she ripped off. “Here’s my number if you wanna catch up one of these days.”

Sea Hawk looked at the piece of paper between his fingers for a second before nodding. “Sure. See ya.”

He rolled up the window after her goodbye and took off as the person behind him honked again. 

“Whatcha playing?” He asked Jack, who was deeply focused on the screen of a Nintendo Switch in the back seat. Sandy was leaning over as far as she could to watch while still buckled in, clutching her backpack. 

“Pokémon!” the eight-year old said without looking up.

“Yeah? You’ll have to show me your team!” Sea Hawk responded. 

“Can we go swimming when we get home?!” Sandy asked excitedly. 

“You guys can when Nora gets there! I have to work so I can’t until tomorrow.” 

“Aww, no fair!” Sandy said, crossing her arms with a pout. 

“I don’t like Nora,” Jack said. 

“Aww, why not?” Sea Hawk asked. He’d never actually met their usual babysitter, but she’d been watching them for a few years at that point. 

“She never lets us do anything,” Jack made eye contact with Sea Hawk in the rear view mirror. “Not even watch movies.”

“And she makes us go to bed so early!” Sandy added. “Like seven o’clock!” Jack nodded. 

“Hmm, well I’ll talk to her about that,” Sea Hawk said. “See if we can compromise or something.”

At the house, Sea Hawk was pacing in the kitchen while Jack and Sandy were doing their homework at the counter. It was 4:55 and Nora was already 10 minutes late and nowhere to be found. Sea Hawk had already called twice. 

At that point, he was on the phone with SeaWorthy’s manager. 

“Hello?”

“Hey, Nance.”

“What’s wrong?”

“So, my dad dropped my little siblings on me last minute and their babysitter is MIA. I can’t get ahold of her. I don’t know if you want me to—“

“Just bring them with you until you can figure out what’s going on, it’s Friday night before Labor Day so I kind of need you here. God, I hate your dad. I’m just starting an interview so I’ll see you when you get here.”

Nancy was Sea Hawk’s mom’s best friend. An entrepreneur who was tough as nails but with a heart of gold. She opened SeaWorthy with her husband before Sea Hawk was born and took him under her wing after the divorce. 

“Ten-four,” Sea Hawk said before clicking the phone off. “All right, guys, we’re gonna have to take this party on the road.”


	9. super flattered you’ve decided to start stalking me now

“Well, I think we can work with your class schedule and I like you, so, if you want it, the position’s yours,” the manager performing the interview said as she touched her stack of papers to the table to organize them. 

“Really? Thanks,” Mermista responded coolly. “Yeah, that’s perfect.” 

“Awesome! In that case, follow me to the back and we can get some training shifts scheduled for you.” In the back office, she had a schedule pulled up and was on the phone with another waitress, trying to figure out which days worked for both of them without conflicts. Mermista was sitting in the chair next to her as she worked. 

The back door burst open and Sea Hawk came rushing in, holding a tiny pink backpack, a small blonde girl on his hip with a young boy training behind him. “Sorry, sorry, she finally called me back and says she has food poisoning, I really don’t know what to do—“ he froze, face going red, when Mermista leaned back in her chair to look at him, arms crossed and eyebrows raised. 

His hair was held out of his face with a folded black bandana, his bangs falling over it on one side, making him look younger than he was. He was dressed in black pants and a black button up with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, paired with black sneakers. He looked tired. 

“Hey,” he said softly. 

“Hey,” Mermista responded with a smirk. 

Nancy put her hand over the mouthpiece of the phone. “Sebastian. This is Mermista, she’s gonna be our new waitress. Reina can’t do a training shift Wednesday, can you?” 

“Yeah, of course,” he said, collecting himself and adjusting Sandy who lifted her hand to Mermista and said “hi!” brightly. 

Mermista smiled and greeted her back. 

“You can just set them up at the end of the bar until you figure out something,” Nancy said after she finished the call with the trainer. She printed something out and handed it to Mermista. “Here’s next week’s schedule. See you Wednesday!” she said, taking Mermista’s hand as they both stood up before rushing out of the back room. 

“Guess we’re working together now,” Sea Hawk said with a grin. 

“Guess so,” Mermista said, folding the piece of paper in half a few times. After a moment, she added, “Still don’t have anything to tell me?”

Sea Hawk laughed nervously. “Yeah, this is my sister Sandy,” he said, boosting her up again, “and my brother, Jack.” Jack looked up from his Nintendo Switch but didn’t say anything. 

They shared Sea Hawk’s complexion and dark eyes, Sandy had the same pattern of freckles across the bridge of her nose and cheeks and Jack had his hair. 

“And this is my friend, Mermista, who looks absolutely radiant today,” he finished. 

“Yeah, whatever.” Mermista shook her head, but she was smiling. 

“Your hair is really pretty! Are you a princess?” Sandy blurted out, causing Mermista to start laughing. 

“Yes, yes she is,” Sea Hawk said. “Now come on, I gotta work, okay?”

Mermista followed him out to the bar where he set up the kids at one end, handing Sandy crayons and a coloring page and getting them both waters to drink. 

“Is this weird?” She asked as he clocked in on the POS behind the bar. 

“What? Not at all,” Sea Hawk said. “I’m actually super flattered that you’ve decided to start stalking me now.” 

“Well you started—wait, NO. That is _not_ what’s happening here,” Mermista sputtered, her face getting redder as Sea Hawk turned around with a grin. 

“I know, I know, I’m kidding, princesa. I should have put two and two together. Nancy told me she had an interview today and you did, too.” A couple sat at the end of the bar. “I’ll be right back.”

Mermista was looking down, suddenly very interested in her cuticles. When he came back to her and began preparing their orders, she looked up. 

“Sebastian, huh?”

“Yep, that’s my real name,” he said as he finished dumping ice into a shaker and put the lid on before shaking it. “Sebastian Henrique Marinho.”

“It’s nice,” she said. Sandy tugged at her sleeve and offered her a blue crayon. 

“Will you help me?” The little one asked, and Mermista smiled at her as she obliged, taking the crayon and starting to color in part of the picture. It made Sea Hawk’s heart melt, and also gave him an idea. 

“Hey, actually, what are you doing this weekend?” Sea Hawk asked, pouring the contents of the shaker into a glass and topping it with a shot of something bright blue. He grabbed a frosty pitcher from under the counter and began to dispense beer from a tap into it. 

Mermista shrugged as he strolled over to the other side and dropped off their drinks. “Not really sure, why?” she said when he came back. 

“So, I have Jack and Sandy here with me because their babysitter is sick and I am responsible for them and at my dad’s house this weekend. No pressure, but I still have to work tonight and tomorrow and they need a babysitter, so… I was wondering if you wanted to make like a thousand dollars and,” he grinned, “hang out with me?”

“You say that like it sweetens the deal,” Mermista deadpanned, not looking up from Sandy’s paper. 

“Doesn’t it?” 

Mermista looked up at him, raising an eyebrow. “So, like, the only thing I know about watching kids is CPR and blowing a whistle at them when they ran too close to the edge of the pool from when I was a lifeguard. Also, a thousand dollars? How much do you think babysitters get paid?”

“It’s how much my step-mom thinks they get paid,” Sea Hawk responded, pulling up and reading the receipt tape that was coming from the POS, then starting to fill orders for the tables in the restaurant. “I’d really owe you one.”

They were interrupted when Lonnie came up behind Mermista, smacking her butt, which surprised her enough to drop the crayon with a small yelp. 

“Yo, I heard congratulations are in order!” Lonnie said cheerfully to Mermista as she loaded up the drinks Sea Hawk was finishing on her tray. 

“Yep,” Mermista said, turning to her classmate. “Thanks for recommending me.” 

“Hell yeah, girl! I knew you’d be a shoe-in.” Lonnie looked between her and Sea Hawk, cocking an eyebrow. “You guys already knew each other? How?”

Sea Hawk opened his mouth to speak, but Mermista was faster. “He’s the guy who broke into my apartment last month.”

Lonnie busted out laughing, almost losing the tray of drinks she was carefully balancing on her arm. “No freaking way. Who were you running from?”

A million emotions were going through Sea Hawk’s head just then. Lonnie, Kyle and Rogelio were close. She _knew_ about his real line of work. And he wasn’t really sure how Mermista would feel, or how he was going to tell her. He was going to—he had decided that much after last night—he just hadn’t found the right moment, the right way. “Just some guy at a bar who I got into a dispute with and his friends,” he finally said, trying to play it cool with a shrug. 

“Figures, you’re always pissing people off,” Lonnie said casually, grabbing the last drink. “See you later,” she said to Mermista before sauntering away. 

Mermista turned back to Sea Hawk, but he’d stepped away to help another person who sat at the bar a few feet away. He took their order, popping open a cold bottle of beer with a bottle opener and setting it in front of them, then returning to the POS to input their food order. 

“I’ll do it,” Mermista said when he was done. 

“Really?!” His eyes were bright and his tone a little too enthusiastic. 

“Sure,” Mermista said. “Just like, don’t blame me for any broken limbs or missing body parts, cause I have no idea what I’m doing.” 

Sea Hawk had walked around the bar and pulled her into a hug, picking her up off the ground with it. 

“Thank you so much,” he said into her neck before he set her back down. 

Mermista’s face was red and she didn’t meet his gaze as she said, “Don’t mention it.”

“Do you guys want to hang out with Mermista tonight?” he asked, directed at the kids. Sandy looked up from her picture, agreeing excitedly, and Jack made an affirmative noise without losing focus on his game.

Sea Hawk went back behind the bar, taking his keys and phone from where he dropped them next to the POS. “Here’s my car key,” he said, removing one of the keys from the key ring and handing it to Mermista.

“How are you gonna get home?” she asked. 

“I’ll beg Lonnie for a ride or something, she lives kind of near there. I’ll text you the address and the gate code. There’s a garage door opener in the glove box. Jack is lactose intolerant and Sandy needs to wear her floaties if you guys go in the pool, and no swimming after dark…” he trailed off, absentmindedly playing with the end of his moustache as he tried to think if there was anything else. “Do you have the Uber eats app?”

“Yeah,” Mermista said, twirling the key between her fingers. 

“Here, give me your phone, I’ll log you into my account so you guys can order dinner.” Mermista dug round her bag for her phone and unlocked it, pulling up the app for him and handing it over. 

“I have to stop by the apartment to change clothes and stuff,” Mermista said as he was putting in his log in information. 

“Of course,” Sea Hawk nodded. “Um, I probably won’t be home until after midnight so… if you want to pack a bag you can spend the night?” Mermista’s expression was hard to read, but she nodded. “You are a goddess among women,” he said to her with a big grin. “Seriously, I don’t know how I could thank you enough.”

“I can think of a few ways,” Mermista said, enjoying the way her words caused his cheeks to flush. 

“Are you guys ready to go on an ADVENCHA with Mermista!?” he said to the kids after a moment, pumping Sandy up. “Be nice to her, okay? If I hear that you guys misbehaved, I’m not going to do the surprise I have planned for Sunday!”

“What surprise?” Jack said, setting down the Switch with his full attention on Sea Hawk. 

“It wouldn’t be a surprise if I told you,” Sea Hawk said with a wink. “So you’ve gotta be on your best behavior for her, okay?”

༄༄༄

When Mermista pulled up to the address Sea Hawk gave her, she almost couldn’t believe her eyes. It was enormous, two stories tall with a driveway that circled around a water fountain and a three-car garage. The sprawling manicured lawn was almost artificially green and the plants and trees were trimmed so expertly that they almost looked fake. The only sign of their neighbors was a glimpse of a roof in the distance. 

Mermista felt very out of her element, this was nothing like any house she had ever been to before, let alone stayed at. 

She leaned over to the glove box and opened it, reaching for the garage clicker but recoiling as her fingers brushed against the cold metal handgun right next to it. She glanced in the rear view mirror to see if the kids noticed, but they were too distracted with the game Jack was playing. She pushed the button on the remote and quickly closed the glove compartment when the garage door opened. 

“Okay, guys, what do you want to do?” she asked as she turned off the engine. 

“I wanna show you my room!” Sandy exclaimed, unbuckling her own car seat. Jack was already getting out of the car. Mermista grabbed her bag and backpack from the passenger seat and got out, too, opening the door behind her to help Sandy out. Sandy grabbed her hand and led her into the house and up the stairs as Jack kicked off his sneakers and threw himself on a white leather couch in the pristine living room. 

“This is my room!” Sandy exclaimed as she pushed open her own door, leading Mermista in and dropping off her backpack in the middle of the floor. The bedroom was fit for a princess, with a full-sized canopy bed and a fluffy white shag carpet, lots of oversized stuffed animals and toys, a couple of giant floor pillows in the corner with a big book case next to them, filled with all kinds of books. The little girl even had her own flat-screen TV mounted to the wall opposite of the bed. It was super clean, too, like a picture out of a magazine. 

“Can you show me where Sea H—Sebastian’s room is?” Mermista asked, and the little girl nodded excitedly, grabbing Mermista’s hand again and leading her down the hallway to a room at the end. “This is Baz’s room!” she announced as she pushed open the door, holding out her arms like she was showing it off.

Sea Hawk’s room kind of seemed like a guest bedroom or a room in a really nice hotel, with an immaculately made bed with a charcoal bed-spread, dark, real wood furniture with completely bare surfaces, and a desk with a desk calendar in the center from three years ago. A door opened to an attached bathroom that was nearly empty. The only sign of living was a duffel bag in the center of the bed, half unzipped. Mermista set her bag and backpack down next to it. 

“Mista, I’m hungry,” Sandy announced. Mermista glanced at her phone screen—it was almost seven o’clock. Anything they ordered wouldn’t be there for at least an hour. 

“Let’s fix you a snack, then we can figure out what we want for dinner,” she said. 

Jack made his way to the kitchen after them, sitting at the counter next to his sister as she dipped apple slices Mermista had cut for her in peanut butter. 

“You want some?” Mermista asked, and he shook his head.

“No thanks,” he said. “Are you Sebastian’s girlfriend?”

“No,” Mermista said immediately. 

Jack nodded. “That’s too bad. You’re a lot nicer than his last girlfriend. Can we have pizza for dinner?”

Mermista frowned, unsure of what to think of his first statement. “I thought you couldn’t have cheese because you’re lactose intolerant?”

“There’s a pizza place that has fake cheese that is okay for me to eat,” he said. 

“Is pizza okay with you?” Mermista asked Sandy. 

“Uh-huh!” 

“Sounds like pizza it is. Do you know what the pizza place is called?”

Jack shrugged. “Baz does.”

6:48pm **Mermista:** Pizza place with fake cheese???

6:49pm **Sea Hawk:** Mellow Mushroom! It’s vegan cheese!

7:58pm **Sea Hawk:** How’s it going???

8:01pm **Mermista:** It’s going okay, Sandy is making us watch Frozen and she knows every word. you didn’t warn me ur dad was like a Kardashian

8:02pm **Sea Hawk:** LOL sorry I usually save that for the third date. Can’t wait to see u later. We are getting busy so call the restaurant if you need me, I might not be able to text. 

Lonnie was walking back from her car after her break as Sea Hawk stepped outside to make sure everything was okay with Mermista and the kids. She offered her vape pen to him and he took it graciously.

“Mmm, what is this tonight?” he asked after he took a few hits. 

“It’s the Orange Cream OG,” Lonnie said when she took it back and switched it off. “It’s a hybrid so it’ll get us through the rest of the night without making us stupid.” 

“Oh, hey, can you give me a ride home tonight? To my parents' place?”

“You get another DUI?” Lonnie crossed her arms. 

“No. I let Mermista take the Jeep, she’s babysitting the kids for me, that sweet angel.”

Lonnie snorted. “Sure, I can. How’d you manage that, anyways?”

“Manage what?” 

“I just didn’t take Mermista as someone to get involved with your type. She’s like, a straight A student and I’ve never seen her willingly hug anyone, let alone a fool like you. Honestly, that’s why I felt safe telling her to come work here since I know you’d try to ruin all of my other girlfriends. And somehow you managed to already get your slutty claws into her.”

Sea Hawk put a hand to his chest, offended. “What’s that supposed to mean, my type?” 

Lonnie looked up at him with a serious face, crossing her arms over her chest and leveling with him. “Don’t act stupid. Everyone knows you will and probably already have fucked anything with an ass that will give you the time of day, then do your thing and disappear for a few weeks and come back like nothing happened. Why do you think Renee and Andrew quit? So, do me a favor. I like Mermista and don’t need you and your bullshit fucking her up, too. So leave her alone.” 

She didn’t give him a chance to respond before going inside, letting the door swing shut behind her. 


	10. we’re just having fun

Just after midnight, Lonnie and Sea Hawk exited the bar through the back and made their way to her car. 

“Not a bad night for tips,” Lonnie recalled, counting her cash as she walked. Sea Hawk made an affirmative noise but didn’t say anything else as they got into the car. “Now, now, don’t get all moody on me, Sea Hawk,” she said as she started up the car and put it into reverse. 

“I’m not,” he argued, unbuttoning the first few buttons of his shirt and loosening his collar. 

“Is that a love bite or did someone throat punch you?” Lonnie asked, motioning towards the hickey on the spot where his neck met his shoulder. 

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Sea Hawk teased. 

“I mean… I kind of do,” Lonnie said. “You know I love to hear about your narrow escapes from dudes trying to take your dumbass out. Put your adddess in the GPS, I always get lost in that neighborhood.” 

“Unfortunately for you, it’s a hickey.” Sea Hawk took her phone and input his dad’s address before setting it into Lonnie’s phone mount. 

“I mean, it’s not that unfortunate, trust me,” Lonnie said, rolling her eyes. “Hopefully whoever it was can distract you long enough for Mermista to get to know you.” 

“I’ll have you know,” Sea Hawk said, struggling to keep the edge from his voice, “that Mermista is the one who gave me this.” They were approaching a red light, and Lonnie hit the brakes a little too hard. 

“How?!” Lonnie groaned. “Like I low key knew she was a hot ass mess but not this much of one.” 

“What do you mean, she’s a hot mess?” Sea Hawk asked, suddenly defensive when it came to Mermista. 

“Nothing, nothing,” Lonnie said. “Forget I said anything.” 

“No, tell me.” 

“It’s none of your business, Sea Hawk,” Lonnie bit back. “I’m not adding ammo to your arsenal so you can find more ways to manipulate her.” 

Sea Hawk deflated in his seat, turning to look out the window. “Why do you think I’m such a bad guy?” He asked. 

Lonnie was quiet for a moment, then she gently placed her hand on his forearm. “Do you… not realize the effect you have on the people you date?”

“Evidently not,” Sea Hawk said, bitter. “We aren’t dating, we’re just having fun.” 

“See—that’s the attitude. Do you know how she feels about it?”

“She initiated it, so I have an idea.”

“Really?” Lonnie asked, shocked.

“Yeah, really.”

“Well, are you serious about her or..?”

Sea Hawk sighed. “I don’t know, I think so? She’s really smart and cool and… there’s something about her, I don’t know. I don’t know.”

“Have you talked to her about it?”

“We haven’t exactly had time, given that it’s been, like, a week.” 

“Did you tell her you’re a drug dealer?”

“Lonnie, it’s been a week. That’s not something you just drop on someone.” 

“But you  _ should _ drop it on someone before you get them emotionally invested in you.” 

“I will, I will, I’m going to.”

“Promise me, Sea Hawk.”

“Okay, okay.”

“Okay, what?”

“I promise I’ll tell her.”

Mermista was passed out on the couch with the TV still on, volume low and a textbook open in front of her. She was wearing an oversized t-shirt and athletic shorts that showed off her thick thighs and shapely calves. Sea Hawk knelt in front of her, brushing her hair out of her face. The motion caused her to stir, crinkling her nose for a moment before her eyes fluttered open. 

“Hey, sunshine,” Sea Hawk said softly. “Wanna move to the bed?”

Mermista sat up groggily, taking in her surroundings. “What time is it?” She asked with a yawn. 

“Little after midnight.” 

She nodded slowly, half asleep. “Okay.” Sea Hawk stood up, clicked the power button on the remote and grabbed her textbook. She followed him up the stairs. 

“How were the kids?” Sea Hawk asked as he moved their bags off of the bed. 

“Good,” Mermista replied as she climbed into the bed and burrowed under the covers, wrapping her arms around the pillow she rested her head on. “They’re good kids,” she added after a moment, eyes half open and watching Sea Hawk as he was unbuttoning his shirt. 

“Yeah, they really are,” he agreed as he slipped out of the button up and pulled his t-shirt off over his head. Mermista sighed with a soft smile, closing her eyes, and he was pretty sure she fell asleep instantly. He took a quick shower before joining her. When he cuddled up to her back she stirred and backed into him as he wrapped his arms around her. The smell of her hair and sound of her breathing lulled him to sleep. 

Mermista woke up disoriented. The room was too light, too cold, the blanket felt wrong, the body next to her—she sat up abruptly. 

Oh, okay, it was just Sea Hawk, she thought as her shoulders relaxed. He was laying on his back, one leg slightly raised, head facing away from her and neck craned in a way that couldn’t be comfortable but also showed off the spot where she’d marked him the other night. His messed up hair fell over his forehead the wrong way, his mouth slightly open and his eyelashes were twitching slightly like he was dreaming or maybe he couldn’t relax even when he was sleeping. He wasn’t wearing a shirt, and the blanket only covered his lower half. This was the first time she had really had a chance to look at him so… still. She was a little distracted the other night, focused on lips and other body parts. 

His right arm was crossed over his body, the full array of grayscale tattoos that made up his sleeve on display. She gingerly touched the compass on his bicep, tracing the connections that told a story of a great ship on a stormy sea being taken underwater by a large octopus at his wrist. It extended over his shoulder to his chest with a map, edges burnt and overlaid with a field of stars and constellations, a lighthouse scene in front. On his left side, his arm was tucked under the pillow behind him, revealing the Japanese characters that flowed over the dips and hills of his ribs. The inconsistencies in the text made it look handwritten. Mermista wondered if maybe his mom wrote it. She wondered which tattoo came first, which was most recent, did he design any of them? All of them? Were they works of passion, proof of the love affair he had with the ocean, just like her own, or were they just cool looking to him?

It dawned on her how little she really knew about him at all. Tuesday seemed like so long ago, so much had happened in just a few short days. She was surprised at just how willing she was to help him out, how much she just… wanted to see him more. How his mustache was growing on her. How much she missed him when he hadn’t texted her back yesterday. How relieved she felt when he said it wasn’t awkward for them to work together. How her heart skipped a beat when Nancy said he’d be leading one of her training shifts. 

And yet, she didn’t even know he worked  _ there _ . Didn’t know the circumstances of his upbringing. On the phone, she recalled Nancy saying she hated his dad, what was that even about? When was his birthday? How old was he even? Did he grow up with a dog? Did he even like dogs? Was this just a fling for him, convenient for now and over sooner rather than later, or did his stomach flutter in a terrifying and unfamiliar way when he saw her, too?

And then there was the handgun in his glove compartment. Mermista has almost forgotten about it. Did he want her to find it, putting the garage button in there with it, or was that just an oversight? Did it even mean anything? Plenty of people carried guns for self defense, kept them in their cars. That was a thing, right? 

She sighed, a little louder than she intended to. Sea Hawk stirred, adjusting his head just a little before settling again, dropping his leg so it laid flat and revealing a bulge under the blanket that made Mermista’s insides tingle involuntarily. 

This could just be fun, she considered. She was in a new town, at a new school. Maybe she could just enjoy herself and see where things go, without all of the overthinking and all of the  _ feelings _ . Perfuma’s advice nagged her in the back of her mind, the overwhelming anxiety that had been simmering in her brain since middle school began to bubble up, but she shoved it all away as she made her choice. 

She leaned over the side of the bed, grabbing a condom from her bag, then took off her shorts and panties. She carefully slid the blanket off of Sea Hawk, positioning herself on her knees between his legs, admiring the way his erection was pressing against the fabric of his basketball shorts, the way the soft morning light through the blinds showed off his abs and his chest and clavicle. She ran her fingers down his chest to his stomach, a little rougher this time, studying his face as she did. She leaned forward to press her lips to his lower abdomen, just above the waistband of his boxers, moving up slowly with more kisses.

[SEXUALLY EXPLICIT CONTENT WARNING - skip to the next chapter if you don’t want to read it]

When she got to the space just under his ribcage, she moved her hand to stroke erection through his shorts. The motion caused his eyelashes to flutter, his moustache twitching with his mouth, and she moved up to kiss his neck, gently blowing into his ear, smiling at the soft moan that brought forth. 

She moved back down as he slowly woke up, realizing what was happening. She hooked her arms under his legs, taking hold of his waistband and leaning down to kiss the head of his erection, looking up at him for permission. 

He reached down and caressed the side of her face. “Please,” he sighed, looking at her with half closed eyes and a lazy grin. She pulled off his boxers and shorts together, tossing them to the floor, then handed him the condom to open as she wrapped his shaft with one hand and swirled her tongue around the tip, letting her saliva lubricate him as she engulfed him with her mouth, relaxing her throat so she could take him even deeper. She was rewarded with a groan as she felt him twitching against her throat. She gave him a few more thrusts and licks before pulling away and taking the unwrapped condom from his hand. She set it against the head of his penis and used her mouth to roll it down his shaft, then moved up to straddle him.

“Porra,” he sighed as he watched her. She lined herself up with him, already slick and wet, gasping slightly as the sensation of his tip moving over her entrance had her tingling, then moaning as he moved to thrust up into her, filling her tight hole with his girth. He leaned forward to pull her shirt off over her head, caressing her breasts as she adjusted to the feeling of him inside of her. Fuck, she felt so good, she  _ looked so good on top of him, _ Sea Hawk thought. 

Mermista put her hands on his chest as she began to move her hips up and down the length of his cock, savoring the way he felt inside of her, but he had other plans. He moved his arms to wrap them around her waist, pulling her towards him for a deep and passionate kiss. The second her hips lifted as her chest met his, he squeezed her tightly and began to thrust his hips forward, fast and hard, pounding himself deep inside of her. The surprise of the motion brought forth an animalistic groan from Mermista, and she cried out as she buried her head in his neck, whimpering as he continued to fuck her relentlessly.

The beautiful sounds she was singing into his ear only fueled him to go harder, faster, deeper, and he felt her nails digging into his chest as he held her. His swift movements and the angle he was coming into her at were a combination that seemed to electrify her nerves and light her body on fire. 

“Sea Hawk—“ she groaned into his neck, panting. “You’re gonna—ah!” Her legs were shaking, and she lost control of them as she collapsed on top of him, the sensation of her sudden orgasm taking over her, but it didn’t phase him at all. He didn’t slow down or lose his rhythm as he felt her warm walls tighten and shudder around him. 

“Mmm, gostosa, Mermista,” he sighed as he felt himself getting closer, slowing down and dropping his hips so he was just teasing her entrance with his tip, trying to make it last longer. Barely recovered, she pulled back to look at him, her face flushed and hair messy, eyes almost unfocused as he teased her. He took the side of her face in one hand, running two fingers against her lip. “Get these nice and wet for me, gracinha?” he asked. She obliged, opening her mouth for him and taking his fingers in, sucking on them without breaking eye contact. 

The wild look in her amber eyes was enough to drive him insane. He pulled his fingers out of her mouth and moved them between her legs, excitement building when her mouth fell open and eyes fell out of focus when he began quickly stimulating her clit with a circular motion. She went to bury her face into his neck again, but his hand caught her hair and pulled her back by it. “No, I want to see your face when I make you come on my cock,” he growled, moving his fingers faster as she whimpered, his expression turning his dark brown eyes almost black.

Was this the same person who was so sweet with his siblings yesterday? The same guy who treated her burn with such gentle hands just a few days ago? She couldn’t move, couldn’t relax, couldn’t do anything but let what he was doing to her body cause her to fall apart on top of him as he began to thrust faster again, deeper, the pressure building up inside of Mermista. 

Sea Hawk watched her face go slack as she cried out again, the sound almost as beautiful as she was. He felt what little control she had left unravel as her walls squeezed him almost tight enough to force himself out of her, feeling hot liquid dripping down his cock into his lap as she came on top of him. He didn’t have much left himself, but he wanted to see if he could do it one more time. 

At some point he stopped moving his fingers on her clit, so he started up again, smirking when Mermista’s eyes widened at him, begging,  _ how? _ and he pulled nearly all the way out before slamming back inside of her with a satisfying smack of flesh, doing it again and again, faster and faster until she was losing herself on top of him again. Just as he felt the gush of hot liquid her orgasm brought forth soak the sheets below him, it was his turn to call out a guttural groan as he emptied himself into the condom with one final thrust. 

They were both panting, chests heaving, for the next few minutes as they recovered, pleasure still pulsating through both of their bodies. Mermista was the first to move, with him still inside of her, she pushed his hair back out of his face and kissed him softly. 

“I need to ask you something,” she said when she pulled back. 


	11. meu talismã

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapters may not update as frequently for this fic due to Seamista September! Check out http://seamista-September.tumblr.com for more details!

The thing about orgasms is that they were just the right combination of relaxing and exhausting that they could put Mermista out right after. The rhythm of Sea Hawk’s heartbeat in sync with his breathing and just how comfortable she felt with her head on his chest, she could fall asleep right there. 

For Mermista, sex was empowering—like the liquid courage you get from drinking without the morning hangover. And sex with Sea Hawk was liberating—even when he was the one taking charge like he just did. The way he admires her body with both his hands and her eyes, the way he obviously enjoys making her come, over and over again at that, the Portuguese he whispers in her ear when the pleasure takes over him. Even when he’s taking charge, pushing her around, smacking and biting her and slamming into her and being rough, he’s somehow still so gentle and caring about it—making sure she’s okay at every move, that she’s ready for the next position. 

With the courage built up now, she pushed the lazy feeling that was coming over her back and lifted her head to look at him, palms flat on his chest. 

“I need to ask you something.”

“Good morning to you, too,” Sea Hawk said with a smile, rubbing his hands up and down her back, pressing gently against the sides of her spine. He was looking at her through half closed eyes, now soft and without the fire they had just a few minutes before. The way he looked at her was more than friendship, not quite lust, but she couldn’t put a name to it. “What’s up?”

Mermista smiled tightly, then exhaled. “So, like, I realized that you never told me how old you are,” she said. Not the question she had originally intended—she wanted to ask about the gun—but it was like her mouth was moving on its own accord. 

“Oh, yeah, I guess you’re right,” he chuckled, smirking. “How old do you think I am?”

Mermista hadn’t expected that. She hadn’t even really guessed herself—she figured he’d have to be at least 21 since he could bartend, and own a handgun like that legally, but if his older brother was a professor and his youngest sibling was six he… could be like, anywhere in his 20s. His childish freckles, the many tattoos and his dumb mustache added more to the mystery. 

“Ughh, I don’t know, it’s too early to think!” she groaned finally, putting her forehead to his chest. He laughed, moving his hand to stroke her hair. 

“I just turned twenty-three last month,” he said. 

“Oh.” 

“Is that… okay?” he asked after a moment of silence, and she looked up at him again. 

“I mean… I’m eighteen… well, nineteen next month, so I guess I’m just…” she trailed off. 

“What?”

“I don’t know,” Mermista admitted. “You probably think I’m some immature kid now or something.”

“Those two words will never cross my mind when I think of you,” Sea Hawk said, moving to press a kiss to her forehead. As he did, the door to the bedroom shook as the doorknob was being handled, the lock stopping it from opening. Mermista froze. 

“It’s not opening,” said a small voice on the other side. Some muffled whispering followed. 

“ ‘Baassssstian!” Sandy finally called through the door. “Your room is locked!”

“That’s because I’m about to take a shower,” Sea Hawk called back, Mermista climbing off of him now. 

“Can you make us breakfast? I want pancakes!” Jack asked. 

“Yeah, get the stuff ready for them and I’ll be down in a couple of minutes.”

“Okay!” Then the sound of little feet running down the hall got quieter until it disappeared. 

“Guess I’ve been called to duty. Wanna shower with me?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Nah, go ahead and take yours first. I have to unwrap my leg and stuff anyway, it’s gonna take a few minutes.”

“I’ll be quick. Really, I just have to take care of this,” he motioned towards his lower abdomen and thighs which were still damp. Mermista nodded.

“Sorry,” she said.

“Please never apologize for that again,” Sea Hawk replies as he leaned over to give her a soft peck on the lips before climbing out of the bed. He grabbed his bag and made his way to the bathroom, Mermista admiring his perfectly sculpted ass as he did. 

She sat so her calf was rested on her thigh and began to unwrap the tape holding the gauze to her burn. It had been four days now, and a blister had formed and then burst at some point yesterday. The pain was gone unless she bumped it now, and it looked a lot better than it did the second day. She’d sent pictures of it to Adora, who had a lot of first aid experience due to being a walking disaster, who gave her advice on what to do while it healed and afterwards to minimize the scarring. Apparently Adora had dealt with the same type of burn from an ex-girlfriend’s bike when she was in high school. Mermista still wasn’t sure if that information made her feel like more or less of a dumbass. 

She crumpled up the gauze inside of the tape and put it in the wastebasket by the desk on the other side of the room, then climbed back under the blankets until he was done, switching their pillows because his smelled like him. 

He really was quick, stepping out of the bathroom probably 10 minutes later, showered and dressed. “All yours. I even left you some hot water,” he said with a wink. 

“Ughh but the bed is so warm and comfy,” Mermista groaned, pulling the blanket up to her chin. 

“You can’t wake me up and then go back to bed,” Sea Hawk whined. He walked over to the bed and climbed on top of her and the blanket, kissing her. 

“But, like, what if I did,” Mermista teased. “Besides, you know that was the best wake up you’ve had, ever.”

“It was pretty damn great,” he agreed, then took hold of the top of the blanket. “Are you still naked under there?” 

“Yeah,” Mermista said, smacking his hand away. Sea Hawk sighed happily, admiring her again with that same face he made earlier. “What. Stop looking at me like that,” she said, feeling her face getting hot. 

Sea Hawk grinned. “Just thinking of all the things I’d do to you if we did not have other obligations. But for now, to wake you up…” he moved his hands to her ribs and began tickling her. 

“No—!” She gasped, laughing and wriggling under his grasp as he continued to tickle her. “Stop! Please! I’ll get up!” 

He obliged, sitting back up while straddling her. He looked good, in a soft red henley t-shirt with long sleeves pushed up his forearms and dark wash jeans. Like yesterday at the bar, he had his hair pushed back with a headband. She was pretty sure he had just trimmed his mustache, too, it tickled a little less when he kissed her again. “Good. What do you like in your pancakes?”

“Chocolate chips, bananas, cinnamon,” Mermista said after a moment of consideration. “Whatever, really.” 

“Okay,” Sea Hawk said as he climbed off of her. “See you downstairs!” He gave her forehead another kiss and left the room, glancing back at her over his shoulder with a smile before he closed the door behind him. 

When Mermista came down the stairs, showered and dressed with her hair dutch braided into pigtails, music was playing in the kitchen and Sea Hawk was singing along to it in Portugese. 

The kids, who clearly admired their big brother a lot, were sitting at the counter and watching him in awe as he poured the batter onto a griddle he had set up in front of them. 

“Good Morning, ‘Mista!” Sandy said excitedly when she saw Mermista. 

“Hey,” Sea Hawk said to her with a big smile, mid-verse, “can you grab me the blueberries from the fridge?” 

Mermista nodded, walking over and grabbing the package from the top shelf. When she brought them over to Sea Hawk, he took her hand in his and put the other on her waist as he continued to sing, this time to her. 

“Você me traz sorte

É o meu talismã

Sonho com você

Quero ter você todas as manhãs

E quando os boleto vai ficando sem um puto

Mas se a gente tem amor a gente 'tá no lucro

Um pagodinho pra esquecer

Ouvindo SPC

Um funk eu e você

Um dog e dois suco

Você é a coisa mais perfeita, feita nesse mundo”

Mermista wasn’t a particularly skilled or even well practiced dancer, but with Sea Hawk leading she managed to land the spin perfectly and didn’t die when he dipped her. She didn’t understand what he was saying, but hearing him speak in his own language was… well, it was really hot. For those few short moments, it was just the two of them in the kitchen, everything else fell away. When they were standing again, Sea Hawk took one of her braids between his fingers and said, “Ficou uma gracinha. Cute.” 

Mermista found herself wishing her life was like this all the time—just playful and romantic and not stressful.

Sandy began clapping for them, Jack joining in after a moment, pulling her out of her head as Sea Hawk took the spatula and she stepped back from him. 

“Oh, I made coffee if you want some,” he said and motioned toward the coffee maker in the corner. It was the kind of fancy coffee maker that you’d find in a real coffee shop, complete with a steam wand and built in grinder. There was also a place for drip coffee, with a fresh pot just under it. 

“Bless you,” Mermista said as she headed over to it. 

“Can you make me a cup, too?” Sea Hawk asked.

“What do you want in it?” 

“Two packets of stevia, please,” he said as he slid some pancakes onto a plate and handed it to Jack. 

“Cream?” Mermista asked as she opened the fridge and surveyed the flavors of coffee creamer on the shelf. “There’s white chocolate macadamia, toasted marshmallow mocha, cinnamon coffee cake and Italian sweet cream.”

“Marshmallow sounds nice!”

Mermista agreed, grabbing that one and opening cabinets until she found mugs. Instead of a cabinet full of mismatched mugs with funny or pretty designs on them, these were all matching shades of navy and soft sage green, neatly stacked and organized on the shelf. Like the rest of the house, the kitchen was straight out of a magazine. 

Right now, with Sea Hawk singing along to the music for the kids and cracking eggs onto the griddle while flipping pancakes, it was a Christmas edition. Mermista was an only child, so it was just her and her dad for holidays most of the time. This scene reminded her of those mornings when her dad would wake up early to cook her breakfast and bring out whatever decorations they had, transforming the kitchen and living room into a whimsical toyland one year or a workshop another, all for her. 

Sea Hawk grinned when she handed him his mug, all fixed up. He took a sip and closed his eyes with a small sigh and a smile. “It’s perfect! Thank you.”

“‘Mista! Will you sit next to me?” Sandy asked, hopping off of her barstool and pulling out the one next to her. 

“Sure,” Mermista said. She gave Sea Hawk’s butt a little squeeze as she walked past him, causing him to chuckle. “Thank you,” she said to Sandy as she took the seat. Sandy excitedly nodded and climbed back onto her own bar stool, using Mermista’s thigh to boost herself up. She got her pancakes next, with blueberries mixed in and a side scrambled eggs. 

“How do you like your eggs?” Sea Hawk asked.

“You’re gonna think I’m weird, but... I don’t like eggs.” Sea Hawk raised an eyebrow, questioning. Mermista wrinkled her nose. “The texture is gross to me.”

“Fair enough.” He cracked another egg open and dropped it onto the griddle, sizzling and the edges instantly going white. He flipped one last pancake onto a plate and slid it over to her. “Let me know if you want something else, then,” he said with a wink. 

“Thanks.” The pancakes were golden brown with perfectly crisp edges, cinnamon and chocolate chips swirled in. Mermista swirled some syrup on top and used her fork to cut a piece out. It melted in her mouth, banana and cinnamon and chocolate flavors mixing on her tongue. “Wow, not bad,” Mermista said. “These are really good.”

“It’s an old family recipe,” Sea Hawk smirked.

“Really?”

“Nah, it’s Bisquick.” 

Mermista rolled her eyes. “Dhakkar.”

“What—was that Hindi? What did you just call me?”

“I shouldn’t say it in front of the kids,” Mermista said, sticking out her tongue before taking another bite. 

“That’s fine,  _ doçura _ . You can tell me later,” Sea Hawk said with a wink as he took a sip from his coffee. He shut off the griddle with a click and fixed his own plate, more eggs than pancakes, before taking the seat on the corner of the island next to Mermista. 

Jack and Sandy had almost finished cleaning their plates when Sea Hawk sat down, and when they were done Sandy was pulling on Mermista’s sleeve.

“What’s up?” Mermista asked, turning to her. 

“Can you make my hair look like yours? It’s pretty like the ocean,” the little girl asked, dark eyes wide. 

“Hmm, I don’t know if your parents would appreciate me dying your hair,” Mermista said, much to Sandy’s dismay. “But I can braid it for you if you want!” 

Sandy’s eyes lit up. “Okay! I’ll go get my brush and scrunchies!” She scrambled off of her barstool and ran out of the kitchen. 

Sea Hawk chuckled, placing a hand on Mermista’s wrist and gently rubbing circles into it with his thumb. He was staring at her, head tilted and a soft smile showing off a dimple on his cheek. 

“What?” Mermista asked.

“It’s just so cute how sweet you are with them,” he said before taking another bite.

“Shut up,” Mermista said, smacking his hand away as her face got hot. 

“You guys are gross. Can we go swimming?” Jack interrupted. 


	12. Sea Weed

Jack ran upstairs to change into his swimsuit, grabbing Sandy on the way so she could change, too. Mermista helped Sea Hawk with the dishes, rinsing them before he loaded the dishwasher. 

“Thank you,” he said, leaning in to kiss her, putting his hands in her back pockets and squeezing as he did. Mermista wrapped her arms around his neck and let him pull her close, pushing her tongue to his lips and asking for entry. He obliged and they were making out for a few moments before the kids were back in the kitchen. 

“I thought you said you weren’t his girlfriend,” Jack said, crossing his arms when they pulled apart. “Mom says only adults in relationships do that.”

Mermista’s face grew hot, but Sea Hawk laughed. 

“Sometimes friends can do it too,” he said, pressing a kiss to Mermista’s temple, one hand still in her back pocket squeezing again. “Besides, she’s a girl, and she’s a friend, isn’t that enough?”

“I don’t know,” Jack said after a moment of thought. Sandy ran into the room with a brush in one hand and scrunchies in the other, thrusting them into Mermista’s hands with a big grin. 

“You want me to braid it before you go swimming?” Mermista asked. 

Sandy nodded. “Yes! We can match!”

“You gotta let Mermista and me change, too,” Sea Hawk said. 

Mermista turned to him. “I can’t go in the pool because of my leg, remember? I didn’t even bring a swimsuit.” 

“Oh, shit, right,” Sea Hawk replied, rubbing her arm. “Maybe we can do something else, then…”

“No, it’s okay, I need to study anyways, so I guess I could, like, tan or something.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, it’s cool,” Mermista said. She handed the brush and scrunchies back to Sandy. “We gotta get changed and we’ll be right there, okay?” 

“Okay!” Sandy said. 

“Hurry up!” Jack said. 

“Okay, okay,” Sea Hawk laughed as they turned and ran to the sliding glass doors that opened into the pool yard. “Hey, don’t go in the pool until I put sunscreen on you two!” 

“We know!” Jack groaned as he shut the door behind him. Sea Hawk was shaking his head but still grinning.

“You heard the kid, we gotta hurry,” he said, leading Mermista back upstairs to his bedroom. She’d put on jeans earlier, so she changed into jean shorts and a crop top before grabbing her book bag. Sea Hawk changed into red swim trunks that stopped half way down his thighs. 

“Mmm, mmm, mmm, that’s a nice view,” Sea Hawk said as he followed her down the hallway. 

“What, all my cellulite?” Mermista joked. Sea Hawk grabbed her wrist and stopped her. 

“Don’t do that to yourself,” he said, frowning as she turned to him. “You’re so fucking beautiful, Mermista.” 

Mermista shook her wrist out of his grasp. “I was joking,” she deadpanned. 

“Still, you shouldn’t talk about yourself like that.”

“Whatever,” Mermista said, starting to go down the stairs. Sea Hawk sighed and followed her down the stairs and outside. Sandy waved Mermista over to one of the lounge chairs, where she was sitting at the edge. Mermista left Sea Hawk with Jack, who had a can of aerosol sunscreen in one hand and a towel in the other. 

Mermista sat cross-legged on the lounge and Sandy settled into her lap as she began to brush her hair. Sandy’s hair was strawberry-blonde, fine and silky, nothing like Mermista’s thick, coarse and wavy locks. 

“Ouch!” Sandy gasped as the brush caught on a knot.

“Oh, sorry!” Mermista said. 

“S’okay!” Sandy gave her a thumbs up. She was perfectly still as Mermista finished brushing her hair, trying to be more careful this time. She parted it into sections and started braiding. 

“Your hair is really pretty, too, Sandy,” Mermista said as she finished up the first braid. 

Sandy gasped. “Thank you!” 

A shadow fell over them as Sea Hawk came over, behind him Jack was running and jumping into the pool. Sea Hawk set down Sandy’s floaties and the can of sunscreen on the lounge chair next to her and plopped down into the seat. 

“Does it look pretty!?” Sandy asked her brother as Mermista was finishing up the second braid. She jumped up after Mermista fastened it with a hair tie and did a little spin. 

“Beautiful,” Sea Hawk assured her, looking at Mermista, who rolled her eyes. “Here, sunscreen time,” he said as he held up the can. Sandy spread out her arms and turned around so he could get her back. When he was done rubbing it in for her, she let him put on her floaties before running over to the pool and jumping in herself. 

“Want some?” Sea Hawk asked, offering the can to Mermista. His skin had a slight gleam to it, he’d already put it on himself. 

“Yeah, sure,” she said, reaching out. 

“Can I do it?” 

“Um, okay, I guess. Just let me do my stomach.”

“Deal.” 

He was so gentle as he rubbed it in, and told her to flip over so he could get the backs of her legs. His hands were slightly calloused, just a little rough as he ran them over the backs of her thighs and down her calves, careful to skip over her bandage. He lifted up her shirt as he sprayed her back, and pressed into the sides of her spine with his thumbs as he rubbed it in. He moved up to her shoulders, rubbing them too. Mermista let out a soft moan involuntarily as he hit a tight spot just inside of her shoulder blade. 

“Can I give you a massage tonight when I get back from work? If you’re still up?” 

“If you’re gonna do it like that, you can wake me up for it,” Mermista laughed, turning to him with a smile as he put her shirt back down. 

Jack and Sandy were calling to him from the pool. 

“Go, I gotta study,” Mermista said, pulling her laptop from her bag. 

He nodded and turned, joining the kids in the pool. Mermista definitely didn’t watch him as he walked away, studying the muscles on his calves or the way his butt looked in those swim trunks, nor did she admire the way he dived in with perfect form. 

About an hour into Mermista’s studying, Catra asked her to Facetime. 

“Where are you?”

“A friend’s house.” 

“Which friend? I know all of your friends. None of them live that lavishly. Wait, is it that guy? Sea Weed? Is he there? Is that him in the pool? Did you ask him about the gun yet?”

Mermista groaned, making sure Sea Hawk was still in the pool before adjusting the lounge so she was laying on her stomach with the laptop sitting in front of her. “It’s Sea Hawk. And not yet, please forget I ever mentioned that to you. Whyyyy did you facetime me? What do you need?”

“Oh. Right. I need you to explain to me that concept we went over last class in Psych again.” 

“The childhood development thing?”

“Yeah,” Catra replied, no longer looking at the camera. 

“What are you doing?”

Catra lifted up a glass pipe. “Packing a bowl.” 

Mermista rolled her eyes. “Are you actually going to study right now?”

Catra was already lighting the bowl and taking a hit. “Yeah,” she said while she exhaled a cloud of white smoke. “I focus so much better when I smoke.” 

“Uh-huh.”

“You should really try this stuff. Rogelio gets, like, a ton of it, and he sells for pretty cheap.”

“Bring it over to my apartment then, I’m sure Perfuma’d love to try too. Tomorrow?”

“Ehhh, I don’t know if Perfuma would want me around, you’d have to come to mine.”

Right. Scorpia and Catra had dated in high school, and had a pretty nasty breakup that sounded like it was mostly Catra’s doing. 

“I should actually have my car back soonish, so I can probably swing that.” 

“Cool. It’s a date. Speaking of which, if you were, say, a really buff soccer player, and you wanted to go out on a date with someone, where would you go?” 

“What, is buff swimmer not enough?” Mermista teased. 

“If I were looking for that, I’d ask Lonnie.”

“Ouch,” Mermista said. 

“I’m kidding, you know I love you,” Catra said with a wink, taking another hit.

As she did, Sea Hawk climbed onto Mermista’s chair and laid on top of her.

“How’s studying going?” He asked.

“Ugh, get your wet ass off of me!” Mermista yelled, using her butt to push him to the side. He lost his balance and fell a little harder than she intended, onto his hip and elbow. “Shit, sorry,” she said. Catra started laughing over the webcam. 

Sea Hawk sat up, rubbing his hip. “It’s fine, I’m okay. Damn, that thing is powerful.” He grinned at her, positioning himself to sit on his butt with his knees to his chest. “Who are you talking to?” 

“Ugh, nobody.” 

“Wow, rude,” Catra said. “The name’s Catra. I go to school with your girlfriend here.”

“I’m not his girlfriend,” Mermista barked. 

“Sea Hawk,” Sea Hawk introduced himself. “What are you smoking?” he asked. 

“I dunno, some shit my friend Rogelio sold me. If it’s green and burns, I’ll smoke it,” Catra drawled.

“Fair enough,” Sea Hawk said with a smile, but his face twitched for a moment. 

“What, are you some big weed connoisseur?” Mermista asked. 

“Nah, it’s nothing like that,” Sea Hawk said, rubbing the back of his head. 

“Yo, Sea Weed, why do you have a gun in your car?” Catra asked. 

“Fuck, Catra, BYE!” Mermista said, shutting the laptop. She tapped a finger on the lid a few times nervously before looking over at Sea Hawk. He had his hand over his face, rubbing his eyes. 

“Um, so, yeah, in your glove box…” Mermista started. 

“I know, I just realized I left it in there.” He dragged his hand down his face, dropping it to his knee, before looking up at her. 

“It’s not, like, that big of a deal, I just wasn’t sure how to ask and—“

“I have something to tell you. But I can’t tell you right now, ‘cause of the kids. I swear I’ll tell you tonight, though.” 

“Okay, mysterious guy, that’s not terrifying or anything.” 

“I swear it’s not scary or anything, just not something you talk about in front of kids. And I don’t want to like, tell you and not give you time to process it so… tonight. Please.”

“Okay, tonight.”


	13. even a love triangle couldn’t stop this book from being a snooze-fest

After the kids were tired out from the pool, they all ended up on the couch inside. Jack had his Switch hooked up to the big TV and he was showing off the Pokémon team he was currently training to Sea Hawk. “Wow, they’ve really upgraded the graphics on these since I was a kid,” Mermista said, distracted from her book by what was on the screen.

“I know, right?” Sea Hawk agreed. “It’s crazy.” He leaned back into the couch and his hand found its way onto Mermista’s thigh, eyes still focused on the screen. Mermista considered moving it away, or adjusting so he couldn’t do that, but then again—why? It’s not like she was mad at him. She didn’t really have a reason to be. She couldn’t think of anything he’d said to her that could have been a lie he was about to reveal, he insisted it wasn’t scary so…

Besides, Sandy had wedged herself between Mermista and the arm of the couch and was currently sleeping with her head on Mermista’s other thigh, so she didn’t want to wake her up. That was all. 

The book she was reading for her literature class was dull and monotonous. Normally Mermista could push past that, but this time it was difficult. She had always been a good student, the product of lots and lots of studying and discipline, not raw ability. Swimming and surfing and animals came easy to her, but things like history and science required focus and memorization. Something she wasn’t going to be able to swing right now. 

She closed the book, pulling her phone out of her pocket and leaning into Sea Hawk’s side as she opened up Instagram. Her notifications were always off, so she was welcomed by a bunch of DMs and new comments. Most of them were creeps, she really should just put her page on private, but one name stopped her in her tracks. 

**OceanCam** : Miss that smile, angel ❤️

The comment was only about an hour old. It was on a picture of her and Perfuma two months ago, just after they moved into the apartment, standing in the kitchen in booty shorts and t-shirts, surrounded by half-unpacked boxes. Mermista was hugging Perfuma around the waist with her cheek squished onto Perfuma’s shoulder, a rare goofy grin across Mermista’s face, captioned with “Reunited and it feels so good”. It was such a feel good day. Scorpia had taken the picture for them. Mermista had finished the last leg of the 48 hour drive, which took her three days, her hair was messy, more of it out of its braid than not, and she had dark circles under her eyes from exhaustion, but she really was genuinely so happy to see Perfuma again and start this new chapter in her life.

Mermista must have been staring for a minute, because Sea Hawk asked if she was okay.

“Huh? Oh, yeah, just remembering moving here.” 

Sea Hawk put an arm around her and squeezed her shoulder. “I’m so glad you did,” he said softly. Jack asked a question about the game that pulled Sea Hawk’s attention away, and Mermista went back to her phone screen. She double tapped the comment and didn’t reply, closing the app and going to Google to look up the Cliff notes for her book. 

“Cheater,” Sea Hawk teased her a little while later, watching what she was doing. 

“Nosy ass,” Mermista responded, elbowing him gently in the ribs. “It’s just the most boring book I’ve ever read,” she explained. He picked it up from her lap, studying the title and opening it up to look at the first page. 

“ _ A Tale of Two Cities _ . Oh, yeah, I’ve heard that. ‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.’” He closed the book. “And then the world’s longest run-on sentence ever.”

Mermista snorted. “Yeah, the rest of it is written just like that. Even a love triangle couldn’t stop this book from being a snooze-fest.” 

“Love triangles, huh? So, tell me, were you Team Peeta or Team Gale?” 

Mermista looked at Sea Hawk sternly. “Team Gale all the way, Peeta was boring and Katniss only showed him attention for convenience and safety. Gale always had real feelings for her and she clearly had them for him, and I’m still bitter about them not ending up together. Peeta’s that dude you date in high school because your dad likes them. Gale’s the dude you meet in college and actually marry because you stop worrying about what everyone else thinks. Like, who would choose boring convenience over actual passionate feelings?” 

Sea Hawk laughed and wrapped both arms around her, pulling her close. “I knew there was a reason I liked you.” Mermista was glad he couldn’t see her face, because her cheeks were burning. 

The movement caused Sandy to stir, sitting up and rubbing her eyes. “‘M hungry,” she mumbled. 

“There’s leftover pizza from last night, want me to heat some up?” Mermista asked as she pulled away from Sea Hawk. Sandy nodded.

“Can I have some, too?” Jack asked. 

“Me too,” Sea Hawk chimed in with a grin. 

“Okay, sure, coming right up,” Mermista laughed, getting up and heading towards the kitchen. She turned on the oven and pulled the pizza boxes out from the fridge. A few minutes later, Sea Hawk joined her, grabbing two glasses from a cabinet and filling them with water from the fridge, handing one to Mermista.

“Thanks,” she said as she took it. He leaned against the counter opposite of her, drinking half of his glass before setting it down on the counter behind him and putting his hands in his pockets. 

“They’re actually playing a game together right now, so I think we have some time... and I don’t think I can wait because it’s going to eat at me all day.” The way Sea Hawk was looking at her, he was staring into her soul. 

“Okay,” Mermista responded, crossing her arms and trying to do the same to him. 

He broke the staredown first, rubbing the back of his head with his hand. “So, I wasn’t exactly honest with you about why I have a second phone.” He paused, trying to gauge her reaction, but Mermista’s face didn’t change. “I’m a drug dealer.” 

A smile tugged at the edge of Mermista’s mouth, then she started laughing, putting a hand up to cover her mouth as she did. 

“It’s… funny?” Sea Hawk asked, confused. 

“Jeeez dude, way to be dramatic. Fuck! I thought you’d like, murdered someone or something. Everyone smokes, who cares if you sell weed.” Mermista was shaking her head. 

“It’s a little more than that,” Sea Hawk said, feeling a little relieved. 

“Go on, then,” Mermista said. 

“It’s hard to explain.” 

“You said we have time.”

He chuckled. “You got me there. So I basically order and distribute to the county and a few of the surrounding ones. Weed, hallucinogens, a few other things.” 

“How does that even happen? Like, how does one… become whatever you are?”

“My uncle does it and kind of got me started, but now I’m mostly doing it by myself since he decided to retire.”

“Are you, like, in a gang?” 

“No. I have people who deal for me but definitely not a gang or anything. I just have the gun in case, I’ve never had to use it.”

“Has anyone tried to use one on you?”

“I’ve had them pulled on me a few times but never that seriously. I’m pretty good at talking myself out of bad situations.” 

“Mmm, explains the busted up nose.”

“Hey, I got lucky with that one.”

“Lucky, how?”   
Sea Hawk stepped forward and brushed a strand of hair behind Mermista’s ear. “Because I met you.” 

Mermista couldn’t hide her smile and flushed cheeks from him, and he leaned in for a kiss. A moment later, the oven beeped, signalling it was done preheating. Sea Hawk stepped back. “We have a pizza stone somewhere, let me grab it. I guess I should have told you earlier so it could heat up in there.” He crouched down and started opening cabinets one by one until he found it, pulling it out and causing the other pans near it to clatter as they hit each other. 

Mermista’s mind was running a mile a minute as she opened up the pizza boxes, taking out two slices for each of the kids and herself. 

“Which one do you want?” she asked.

Sea Hawk put his hand on her hip as he came up behind her. “Mmm, I’ll finish Sandy’s, I’m sure she won’t mind.” 

“Cool,” Mermista said, arranging the slices on the stone and sliding it into the oven.

“Are we okay?” Sea Hawk asked. 

“Yeah, I just... “ Mermista trailed off.

“What?” 

“I don’t want to get involved with that. My scholarship--”

“Good. I don’t want you to be involved in it.”

Mermista turned to Sea Hawk, taking in his serious look. 

“I have no intention of bringing you into that. It’s dangerous and not any place for you. I’m just in it for the money, not to start shit and definitely not to go to prison or anything.”

“So…” Mermista bit her lip. “So you are in danger?”

“I mean, no, but I guess I always could be. Cops, other distributors or sellers. I tried to monopolize what I sell, and for a while that was causing a lot of problems. I pay more so my importer doesn’t sell to anyone else in the state. Other sellers and dealers didn’t really like that. So I wiped my social media, moved every few months or so. Fortunately I’ve been going by Sea Hawk since before I started so it was easy to keep my birth name a secret.”

“That’s why I couldn’t find you when I--” Mermista stopped herself. 

“Googled me?” Sea Hawk grinned.

“No!” Mermista protested, and Sea Hawk laughed in response.

“I googled you, too, don’t worry.” 

“Whatever. What did you find? When you googled me?”

“Just a beautiful girl kicking ass at life, but not smiling enough.” Fair. Mermista didn’t really like to smile in photos—most of the ones she was smiling in were candid. “Oh—and I wanted to ask, I was going to surprise the kids with a beach trip tomorrow, do you want to come? It’s a good time of year to surf.”

Mermista’s eyes lit up. “Yeah?”

Sea Hawk nodded. “I should have your car tonight, too, I’m gonna take an Uber to work so they can just drop it off there and I can drive it back here.”

“Oh, cool. Thank you, again,” Mermista said. 

“Any time, gracinha.” 

Once the pizza was done, they all ate in the living room, Mermista and Sea Hawk on the couch and the kids on the floor, alternating between eating and playing. When he finished eating, Sea Hawk joined the kids on the floor, pulling Sandy into his lap and helping her win the round against Jack, who protested loudly. 


	14. turns out he’s a serial killer

Mermista couldn’t help but admit it was nice to be back in the Jetta, driving herself home the next morning. Sea Hawk had brought it home and presented her with the keys and the money for babysitting, giving her the option to stay the night again if she wanted to. It was so late when he got back, and she was already comfortable in his bed, so… she spent the night in his arms again. 

She wasn’t going to get attached. He was chill to hang out with and amazing in bed, and they were gonna be working together so she might as well get to know him. And he was so nice to fix her car and stuff. 

Still, it was a bit of a relief to walk back into her apartment with her backpack sling over her shoulder. She was greeted by the familiar hum of their old refrigerator and the whirring of the window AC unit, but Perfuma didn’t seem to be home—there was no incense wafting through the apartment or relaxing music coming from Perfuma’s bedroom. Just ambient noise and the feeling of _home._

She had time to chill—Sea Hawk said they probably wouldn’t make it down to the beach until after noon anyways. After starting a load of laundry, she flopped down on her bed on her stomach and opened up the group chat to see what was going on. 

**Bright Moon Besties**

10:42am **Bow:** guess what!

10:43am **Catra:** u finally confessed ur love for ur stats teacher?

10:43am **Bow:** no I’m pretty sure he’s married 

10:44am **Mermista:** he is definitely married 

10:45am **Glimmer:** how do you know??? I haven’t even met this hot stats professor yet 

10:46am **Mermista:** a great detective never reveals their secrets

10:47am **Bow:** is nobody going to guess :(

10:47am **Catra:** i literally guessed 

10:48am **Glimmer:** just tell us!

10:48am **Bow:** I’m debuting at the racetrack tomorrow!

10:48am **Catra:** oh yeah finally?

10:49am **Adora:** racing what?

10:50am **Bow:** Drag Racing!

10:51am **Scorpia:** Like, RuPaul?

10:51am **Glimmer** : he wishes he was that pretty 

10:52am **Bow:** no like the cars!

10:52am **Bow:** wow RUDE

10:52am **Catra:** FNWKDJWKS

10:53am **Adora:** ooh when??

10:54am **Bow:** 4pm tomorrow I’ll be there and I’m set to race at like 6pm!! You guys are all invited and better be there to support me! 

10:54am **Mermista:** I’m in

10:55am **Bow:** REALLY?!

10:55am **Perfuma:** scorpia and I will come too!

10:55am **Glimmer:** of course I’ll be there 

10:55am **Adora:** I’d love to come! 

10:55am **Catra:** I’ll come I guess

10:56am **Mermista:** can’t wait to see you drive into a wall 

10:56am **Bow:** love the support Mermista!

10:56am **Mermista** : any time! 

Mermista’s dad and his best friend practically raised her on the race track. Not so much as she got older, but she spent a lot of the summers in elementary and middle school sitting in the bleachers with whatever book she was reading at the time, sometimes watching as her dad’s latest rig either kicked ass or failed miserably. Lots of smoke and car crashes and fires filled up those summer nights. Perfuma even came a few times with her, so when they found out Bow was working on a car to drag race and he had found a special interest in it, Mermista was about it. Not like, super excited or anything, she just wanted to watch some dumbass dudes set their cars on fire for the nostalgia. 

11:04 **Mermista** > **Perfuma:** where r u 

11:04 **Perfuma:** beach with scorpia

11:05 **Mermista:** word I’m actually gonna be there later do u have my surfboard 

11:05 **Perfuma:** Maybe 

11:06 **Mermista:** actually kind of glad u do cause it beats trying to tie it to the roof of my car lol 

11:07 **Perfuma:** :)

**Bow** changed the group chat name to: **Bright Moon Beach Bums**

11:23am **Bow:** what’s the parking sitch?

11:25am **Perfuma** : Not the best, carpool if you can!

11:26am **Glimmer** : I have room for one more!

11:27am **Adora** : Dibs!

11:27am **Catra:** Dammit lol

11:29am **Mermista** : I can pick you up

11:30am **Catra:** yeah? thanks

11:31am **Bow** : you’re coming!?

11:35am **Mermista** : I’ll be at the beach, idk if it’ll be with you guys though lol

11:37am **Glimmer** : Figures, Mermista gets a boyfriend and the rest of us mean nothing to her

11:38am **Mermista** : Who said anything about a boyfriend? 

So everyone was going to the beach. Mermista was wondering if the universe was blessing her or trying to fuck with her. She wasn’t trying to stay mad at Catra, and Catra’s apartment was on the way to the beach so it wasn’t like she’d have to go out of her way to pick her up. After her laundry was switched over, Mermista changed into her cutest bikini and layered over her wetsuit top and a pair of shorts for the ride there. Catra facetimed her just as she was tying up the laces of her Vans. 

“Why can’t you just text like a normal person?” Mermista answered. 

“Oh, come on, I know you miss my face,” Catra smirked. 

“That’s debatable,” Mermista said, grabbing the roll of waterproof medical tape she bought at CVS on her way home. She decided that, while saltwater wasn’t too bad for injuries, getting sand in a burn wound wouldn’t be fun. 

“I need advice.” 

“About?”

Catra set her phone down and stepped back in front of it as Mermista put a fresh layer of burn cream on her calf. “Should I do this top?” She was wearing a simple white triangle bikini top. “Or,” she turned around, removing the top and putting on another one before turning to face the camera again wearing a top that was more of a sports bra than anything, a deep crimson with black straps and a cutout in the center showing off Catra’s subtle cleavage. “This one?” 

“I don’t care?” Mermista said as she wrapped her burn with fresh gauze and the new tape. 

“Which one looks hotter?” 

“I don’t know, I guess the boob window one,” Mermista sighed. “What bottoms are you wearing with it?” 

“I thought you didn’t care?” Catra teased.

“I just don’t want you looking like a mess then blaming me for it,” Mermista responded. Catra went off screen for a moment, returning in a pair of skintight swim shorts that ended mid-thigh with orange, pink, white and red stripes on one side. For a moment, Mermista thought about how her thighs would absolutely eat those shorts, but Catra’s looked great in them. 

“Is this acceptable, mom?”

“Gross, don’t call me that,” Mermista said, rolling her eyes. “I’ll be there in ten, if you’re not downstairs I’m leaving your ass.” 

“Whatever you say~” Catra said in a singsong voice before Mermista hung up. 

Mermista leaned over to unlock the passenger door for Catra when she pulled up to her apartment building, but only after Catra tugged on the handle a few times and complained loudly.  
“I didn’t even know you had a car,” the brunette said as she slid into the front seat, tossing her bag into the back. “Where have you been hiding this piece of shit?” 

Mermista rolled her eyes. “It broke down right after I moved here, I just got it fixed.” She didn’t say anything about Sea Hawk paying for it.

“What’s this?” Catra asked, tugging at the red bandana currently tied around the gear shift as Mermista pulled back onto the street. Sea Hawk had left it in there last night, and that was the safest place for it. 

“It’s a bandana, what does it look like?”

“Oh! Did that guy tell you about the gun?”  
“Yeah, thanks for that,” Mermista deadpanned, giving her passenger the side-eye. 

“So what was it?”

“Turns out he’s a serial killer. I barely made it out alive.” 

“Stop fucking with me.”

“Then learn to mind your own business.” Mermista wasn’t about to tell her friend with the biggest mouth and least amount of self control what Sea Hawk did for a living. 

“Touchy,” Catra said, then started fiddling with the radio. “You got an aux cord in this thing?” She asked after switching back and forth between stations a few times. 

“In the glove box,” Mermista said. “Don’t play anything dumb.”

“Ooh, what do we have here?” Catra said, pulling out a piece of paper as she ruffled through the glovebox. “‘Drive safe, gorgeous girl.’ Oh, that’s adorable.”

“Give me that,” Mermista said, snatching it out of Catra’s hand as Catra laughed. Catra took the cassette tape with the aux cable from the glovebox and put it into the radio, then plugged the other end into her phone, immediately playing “I Miss You” by blink-182.

“Why don’t you have this on already, anyways?” 

“My phone doesn’t have an audio jack,” Mermista responded, running her fingers over the paper as they sat at a red light. His handwriting was kind of messy but still easy to read, he wrote in all caps and punctuated with a smiley face. He must have written on a soft surface, because the paper was indented slightly where the pen had marked it. 

“Wow, I’ve never seen you smile like that, ever,” Catra noted as the light turned green.

“Shut up,” Mermista said, folding the paper in half and sticking it between the plastic and glass of the dashboard display. 

“It’s kind of nice to know you’re capable of feeling things.”

“Ugh, whatever,” Mermista said as she navigated her way through the narrow aisles of the beach parking lot. She handed Catra a five dollar bill and told her to go get a parking slip while she found a spot. A few minutes later, she squeezed her car between two badly parked SUVs and got out. She grabbed both of their bags and, while waiting for Catra to come find her, took Sea Hawk’s red bandana from the gear shift. She folded it into a headband and tied it around her head, making a little bow at the top. The red contrasted nicely with her azure hair. 

Her phone buzzed in her pocket, and she walked over to the rear of the car and leaned against the trunk, looking at her phone as she continued to wait for Catra.

1:12pm **Sea Hawk:** my brother and nieces are coming too :) can’t wait to see you again 

1:13pm **Mermista:** chill it’s been like 5 minutes 

1:13pm **Mermista:** but yeah you better hurry the parking lots are packed 

1:14pm **Sea Hawk** : lol I’ll probably just park at SeaWorthy’s 

1:14pm **Sea Hawk** : wait you’re already there?

1:15pm **Mermista:** turns out everyone I know planned to go to the beach today and I’m eager to get on the water. see you soon.

Perfuma was already catching waves as they approached the rest of the group. Scorpia was sitting on a towel, muscular arms resting on her knees as she watched her girlfriend riding the crest of an impressive wave. Mermista’s surfboard, a fiberglass epoxy hybrid with a purple and blue swirl design with hints of metallic silver swirled in that reflected like fish scales, laying on its side next to her. 

“Gave up already?” Mermista asked, dropping her bag and digging through it for a towel. She spread it out next to Scorpia, giving Catra the opportunity to lay hers out a few feet away, before sitting down next to the blonde. 

“Yeah, I’m not super coordinated,” Scorpia admittedly rubbing the back of her platinum blonde undercut with a hand. 

“It probably doesn’t help that my board’s way too short for you,” Mermista offered. She wasn’t the shortest person in the group by far—at 5’5, she was kind of in the middle. Adora was a little taller than her, Perfuma was 5’11 and Scorpia was over 6 foot. Catra was just a little shorter than Mermista and Glimmer was definitely the shortest, just a little over 5 feet tall. 

“Oh, that matters?” 

“Well, yeah, a lot of surfing is about balance. So if your board is too short for you, you’re not gonna have a good time. Perfuma should have let you use hers.”

Scorpia nodded, her eyes focused on her girlfriend, bright and excited.

It wasn’t long before Bow, Glimmer and Adora showed up, Bow hugging Mermista tightly and overenthusiastic about her being there. She didn’t know why he was so elated every time she hung out with him outside of school, but he seemed like that with everyone. Adora set down a cooler and opened it up, tossing a Truly Lemonade Glimmer’s way and asking if anyone else wanted one. 

“Got any Mango or Strawberry?” Mermista asked, and Adora responded by tossing one her way. Mermista definitely knew why Catra was so obsessed with Adora. She was wearing a red bikini that showed off her muscular arms and legs. Her abs were on display as she stretched before sitting down between Bow and Glimmer on the oversized towel Glimmer had laid out, then flipped her long blonde ponytail over one shoulder. 

Glimmer sidled up to Adora, resting her head on her shoulder as she opened the can of seltzer before taking a drink. They all chatted for a few moments, but once Mermista finished her drink she was feeling a little overcrowded so she grabbed her surfboard and headed out to the water. She passed Perfuma, who was on her way back to the group. 

“Good luck out there!” Perfuma sang as Mermista gave her a love punch on the shoulder as she passed. 

Even though it was in the high 80s outside, the water was shockingly cold. Mermista was glad for the warm air and her insulated long sleeved wetsuit top as she caught her first few waves and adjusted to the temperature. The Atlantic often felt like bath water rather than refreshing, so it was still a new experience to Mermista every time she came to these beaches. And even though it was uncharacteristically busy today, the beaches were nothing like those in Florida. A packed parking lot meant maybe one or two hundred cars here, not thousands like you’d see during the season in Miami. The geography was interesting too, with the parts of the beach separated by big cliffs and large rocks jutting out from water.

Mermista didn’t care about any of that right then—the view, her friends, her pending company. Right then, it was just her and the waves. 


	15. Is that my bandana?

Mermista was a natural on the water, Sea Hawk thought as he watched her from the shore. Marcos, his middle older brother and his roommate Jordan were setting up a tent for the kids to chill under if they got hot. Marcos came up behind Sea Hawk and handed him a beer.

“Valeu,” Sea Hawk grinned. Sandy stood next to him in a frilly pink swimsuit, holding onto a tiny trowel in one hand and using the other to shield her eyes from the sun. 

“What are you looking at?” She asked. Sea Hawk crouched down next to her, redirecting her to where Mermista was preparing to surf the next wave. 

“See? It’s Mermista.”

“Oh!” Sandy said excitedly. “Wow! She looks so cool!”

“Yeah she does,” Sea Hawk agreed as they watched her approach the swell of the next wave, then push herself to stand as it grew underneath her. This time, instead of turning back to the next wave, she laid on her stomach and began paddling back to the shore. She didn’t seem to notice them, and was heading back to a group of people who were setting up a volleyball net a hundred or so yards away. 

“Can I go say hi?!” Sandy exclaimed, and Sea Hawk nodded. 

“Come right back, okay?” Sandy nodded, dropping her shovel and sprinting across the beach towards Mermista. Sea Hawk smiled as he watched his sister wrap her arms around Mermista’s thigh, throwing off her balance in the process. Mermista looked around and said something to her, then took her hand and walked over to her friends. She set her surfboard up next to a pink floral one and talked for a few moments before letting Sandy lead her towards Sea Hawk.

“Hey,” she said as they got close enough. She was wearing a black wetsuit top with long sleeves, half unzipped revealing a dark teal bikini top that matched her bottoms. Her feet were bare, sand sticking to her wet skin. Her hair was in a loose braid that was currently over her shoulder and —

“Is that my bandana?” Sea Hawk smirked.

“Maybe,” Mermista replied as she squeezed water out of her braid. Sea Hawk pulled her into a tight hug, and she felt her cheeks get hot as they pressed against his chest. 

“You looked amazing out there on the water! You’re such a natural!” Sea Hawk said as Sandy ran over to her brother and cousin to help them building a sandcastle. 

“Thanks,” Mermista said sheepishly. “I’ve been surfing for years, so…”

“Come meet my brother and my nieces?” Sea Hawk asked, and took her hand to lead her over to where another guy in his mid-twenties was sitting in a camping chair. He was definitely Sea Hawk’s brother, they had the same eyes and facial structure, but his dark hair was longer, darker, curlier, and he had a short and neatly groomed beard. When he stood up, he was shorter and broader than Sea Hawk, but just as built. “This is Marcos, and his roommate Jordan.” Jordan gave her a quick nod. 

“Wonderful to meet you, Mermista!” Marcos said as he pulled her into a hug and kissed her cheek. “My brother hasn’t shut up about you,” he said, grinning. Mermista turned to Sea Hawk who just smiled and shrugged, unashamed. 

“Can you blame me?” He winked at Mermista, who responded with an eye roll. 

“My friends are gonna play volleyball if you guys wanna join,” she said, sounding bored. 

“Are you playing?” Sea Hawk asked. 

“No way, my face is a ball magnet,” Mermista said, quickly adding, “Don’t be weird about it.” Sea Hawk was covering his mouth, trying not to laugh. 

“Sounds fun, we’d love to,” Marcos said. “Give us a sec to take this canopy down and we’ll be right over.” 

“Cool,” Mermista said. Adora and Glimmer made her promise they’d be able to meet Sea Hawk if he came, and Mermista told them that she would only do it if they weren’t embarrassing about it. As they approached the group, Mermista looked over at the drink in Sea Hawk’s hand. “What’s that?”

“Skol, a Brazilian beer, wanna try?” Sea Hawk said, offering it to her. Mermista nodded, reaching for it. She took a sip, then drained the can which was almost full. “Oh, damn, okay,” Sea Hawk laughed. 

“I just don’t want to be sober while all of this goes down,” Mermista admitted.

“All what goes down?” Sea Hawk asked.

“My friends are embarrassing,” Mermista said as she approached them. Catra sat up as they approached. 

“Oh, I see why you came now,” she said, lifting her sunglasses to rest on top of her head. “Hey, Sea Weed.” 

Sea Hawk greeted her back with a grin. 

“Okay so you know Catra, Perfuma, Scorpia… That’s Bow, he made those cupcakes I got you the other day, this is Adora and Glimmer. You know Lonnie, Kyle and Rogelio. This is my friend Sea Hawk,” Mermista drawled, motioning her hand in the direction of each friend.

By the time everyone had gotten acquainted, Rogelio, Bow and Scorpia had the volleyball net secured by wooden stakes and sandbags and Marcos, Jordan and the kids had made their way to the group. Sea Hawk’s nieces were named Marcia and Kiania, and they were seven-year-old twins. They weren’t Marcos’--they were actually Tomás’, and Marcos offered to watch them for the evening and relieve Sea Hawk of babysitting duty for his younger siblings, too. At one point, Sea Hawk had put an arm around Mermista, but she shrugged it off and he didn’t push it. It wasn’t too long before everyone but Mermista, Perfuma and Glimmer had split off into teams and were playing against each other. Mermista wasn't sure any of them actually knew how to play volleyball, judging by the haphazard way they were playing, but they seemed to be having fun at least.

She was only half paying attention as she nursed a White Claw, kept an eye on the kids and listened as Glimmer went on about how irritated she was currently with her mom. 

“I mean, come on! I’m almost 20! How does she still think she can ground me???” Glimmer groaned, cracking open her fifth drink. “We don’t even live together anymore!”

“What did she even ground you from?” Mermista asked, half paying attention.

“She said that until my grades improve she’s putting a block on my credit card and my data plan on my phone!” Mermista rolled her eyes at Glimmer’s rich girl problems, watching as Sea Hawk dove towards the ground, barely stopping the ball from hitting it and sending it flying towards Jordan, who tossed it to Catra as she jumped and smashed it into the ground on the other side. Kyle stepped backwards as Catra jumped and cheered, tripping and falling backwards over Sea Hawk’s legs. Sea Hawk got up, laughing, and helped Kyle to his feet, winking at Mermista when he caught her watching him. She looked back at Glimmer. 

“I just wish we had some classes together, I know you’re like, really good at studying, I bet studying with you would really help me!” 

Mermista shrugged. “We don’t have to share the classes for me to kick you every time you get distracted. Didn’t Bow say you guys were doing an all nighter next Monday?”

“Yeah,” Glimmer said. “But Adora’s going to be there and I can’t focus on anything when she’s around.” Glimmer’s eyes sparkled as she said Adora’s name. Mermista turned her attention back to the game, where Adora had just spiked. Glimmer must have caught her attention because she waved with a big smile, just in time to get nailed in the side of the head by the ball after Lonnie sent it back. Mermista flinched, but Adora just shook it off, laughing as she rubbed the side of her head. Scorpia ran to her side and was talking fast, probably asking if she was okay, as Lonnie shouted out an apology. 

“It’s all good!” Adora yelled back. “I was the distracted one!” She kicked the ball under the net, it was the other side’s turn to serve now. Rogelio picked up the ball and tossed it over to Sea Hawk, who was standing towards the back of the line in the sand that marked the edge of their makeshift court. He tossed the ball up in the air, not losing track of it as he moved forward and jumped to hit it over the net. His brother caught it with his fingertips and sent it back. 

“He’s not bad looking,” Glimmer said, elbowing Mermista. Mermista shoved her back playfully. “Nice body, and he seems cool.”

“Yeah, whatever,” Mermista replied with a shrug, reaching for the bowl of grapes she and Glimmer were sharing and taking a handful. 

“Aww, come on, you must like him a little to bring him to meet all of us.”

“Uh, I actually came here to surf because he invited me, you guys just happened to also be here,” Mermista corrected her. 

“Ohh, so we intruded on your date?” Glimmer leaned into Mermista, her eyes full of mischief. 

“No, it wasn’t a date. I watched his brother and sister while he worked this weekend, they were already coming, he invited me along.”

“And that’s all that happened?”

“Doubt it,” Perfuma said, joining in on the conversation now. “She spent the whole weekend with him. And the other day he came over and—“

“Finish that sentence and I smother you in your sleep,” Mermista growled at Perfuma, blushing, causing both Glimmer and Perfuma to laugh. 

“So is he good in bed?” Glimmer asked. Mermista ignored her, finishing her drink and grabbing another. She was actually feeling pretty good at this point, but it was Sunday and she had the next day off and drinking just made this all more tolerable. As she took her first sip, Sea Hawk lifted the hem of his t-shirt to his face to wipe his brow exposing his chest, those abs, and the thin line of hair below his navel that disappeared under his waistband. Mermista choked, coughing hard as Glimmer patted her back, laughing. 

“Wowww, someone’s got it _ bad _ ,” Glimmer teased, still rubbing Mermista’s back. 

“Shut up,” Mermista said, swatting at Glimmer’s arm as she looked away. 

“No way,” Glimmer said, moving to wrap her arms around Mermista’s shoulders. “This is so entertaining, I’ve never seen you get flustered over, like,  _ anything _ !” 

“And here I was, considering going to this study sesh to help you,” Mermista groaned as she unsuccessfully tried to remove herself from Glimmer’s grip. Remembering their conversation from the other day, she changed the subject. “Oh, did you get to flick Adora’s bean yet?”

Glimmer pulled back, crossing her arms. “Don’t change the subject, we’re talking about  _ you _ .”

“You and Adora are having bedroom problems?” Perfuma asked. Her attention had been half between her girlfriend playing and the conversation Glimmer and Mermista were having, but now she was looking right at Glimmer. 

“No!” Glimmer said, then she deflated. “Kind of? Maybe?” Mermista slipped out of her wetsuit top, just in her bikini now, and leaned back onto her towel. She laid down with her arms crossed behind her head, happy to have the attention off of her while Glimmer and Perfuma talked about Adora. 

Some time had passed, Mermista had turned onto her stomach and was absentmindedly scrolling through Twitter on her phone. She caught the tail end of an argument as Catra yelled, “TACA A MÃE PRA VER SE QUICA!” Mermista looked up to see Catra, face to face with Sea Hawk (well, as close as she could get considering Sea Hawk was at least half a foot taller than her), who had his hands raised in surrender. 

Suddenly, he was grinning. “GAROTA? TU É BR?” He exclaimed, throwing his arms around her and picking her up slightly in a hug. Marcos grinned too on the other side of the net. \

Catra was squirming, yelling, “Me larga, garoto!!” [Get off of me, dumbass!]

Sea Hawk let her go, laughing. “Foi mal, é que eu fiquei empolgado em conhecer outra brasileira!” [Sorry, sorry! It's just so exciting to meet another Brazilian!]

“What just happened?” Mermista asked Glimmer, who was finally settled down and relaxed next to her. 

“Sea Hawk hit her in the back of the head with the ball,” Glimmer laughed, causing Mermista to laugh with her.

“You guys are mean,” Perfuma scolded them. “That probably hurt.”

“Oh you know she’s fine, that thick-ass head of hair cushioned it, I’m sure she barely felt it,” Mermista said. 


	16. drunk, in the center of this triangle of extremely hot people

After some time, Catra asked Kyle what the score was and he froze. 

“I… might have lost track,” he admitted. 

“Oh, come on, Kyle!” Lonnie groaned, throwing the ball at him. 

“Sorry!”

“Whatever, I’m tired of playing, anyway,” Catra said, fixing her ponytail and heading over to where Mermista was laying on her back with one arm tuckedunded her head. She grabbed a bottle of water from the cooler and dropped down to her towel, draining half the bottle in one drink, before reaching over to Mermista and taking her sunglasses back. Mermista groaned and rolled over to her stomach, burying her face in her crossed arms.

“Gee, what happened to you?” Catra laughed. 

“Alcohol makes her sleepy,” Perfuma said, squeezing Mermista’s shoulder gently, bringing forth another groan. 

“How much did you drink?” Catra asked. 

Mermista grumbled something she couldn’t hear. 

“I think four?” Glimmer said. Mermista held up her hand. “Oh, five,” Glimmer laughed. 

Sea Hawk was showing Jack and Bow how to do the jump serve he had performed earlier, with Jordan on the other side of the net tossing the ball back to them. 

“Where’d you learn that?!” Bow asked excitedly as Sea Hawk landed it perfectly for the fourth time. 

Sea Hawk shrugged. “Gym class back in high school,” he said nonchalantly. He was enjoying having Bow’s full attention, but the way Mermista was laying with her head in her arms was making him a little nervous. Was she okay? Catra said something and Mermista popped her head up, smacking her friend’s leg with a laugh. 

Okay, cool, she’s okay, he thought as she got up, sitting back on her calves and stretching her arms above her head. Her bikini hugged her delicious curves perfectly, and her loose braid as well as the strands of hair that had escaped it fell over her shoulder in the sexiest way. She caught him checking her out and smirked, raising an eyebrow.

Caught, he flashed her a grin and pushed his hair out of his face before turning his attention back to Bow who was making an attempt at the jump serve now. Bow landed it perfectly, jumping up and down and cheering before facing Sea Hawk for a high five. 

“You know, the whole point of a headband is to keep your hair out of your face,” Mermista said as she came up to his side. Sea Hawk grinned at her. 

“What’s your excuse, then?” He laughed, moving a hand to sweep her bangs out of her face and behind her ear. 

She smirked right back. “This one is not for function, it's just to look cute.”

“Definitely doing its job, then,” Sea Hawk said, flicking the little bow on the top of her head. Jack asked for the ball then and Bow gave it to him. Jack and the girls began to play their own makeshift game of volleyball. Sea Hawk and Bow lowered the net for them. 

After, Sea Hawk turned to her. “Feel like swimming again?”

Mermista shrugged. “I'm not sure, the water’s kind of cold.” 

“Bet I can convince you,” Sea Hawk said.

“How?” Mermista asked, crossing her arms. He shucked off his shirt and dropped it in the sand where they were standing. While she was distracted, in one swift moment, Sea Hawk picked her up and threw her over his shoulder like a rag doll. “No! No! Put me down!” Mermista protested, smacking his back. 

“I will, I will, give me a second,” Sea Hawk said as he headed towards the water. Catra, Glimmer and Adora were all cackling at her predicament, while Scorpia and Perfuma looked amused. He charged into the water without a pause to adjust to the temperature, wading in until he was waist deep then tossed Mermista in before diving after her. 

Under the water, he took her face in his hands and kissed her. When they surfaced, she shoved him, hard, but he was sturdy and held his balance as he laughed. She felt her cheeks burning and splashed him. 

“Asshole,” she said. Sea Hawk could tell by her smile that she wasn't serious.

The kids’ game came to an end when dark clouds began to roll in. Thunder clapped overhead as they started to take down the net, and by the time everyone was figuring out rides, fat raindrops began to sprinkle over them. Sea Hawk was helping Marcos take down the canopy while Mermista was shaking sand off of her towel and shoving it into her bag.

“You’re not okay to drive, are you?” Catra asked Mermista, crossing her arms over her chest with a smirk as Mermista was making an effort to balance the weight of her surfboard under her arm so it stayed horizontal. 

“What? No, I’m fine,” Mermista said, hoisting her bag over her shoulder as Sea Hawk finally took her surfboard from her. “It’s not a long drive.”

“You had like, five drinks,” Glimmer pointed out. 

“Yeah, well, so did you,” Mermista responded. 

“That’s why Bow is driving,” Glimmer said with a wink, handing over the keys to her car as they began to head back to the parking lot. 

“Give me your keys, I’m driving,” Catra said. 

“No way, didn’t you crash your last car?” Mermista asked. 

“Yeah, but at least I was sober,” Catra retorted. 

“I’ll drive,” Sea Hawk said, unclipping Mermista’s keys from her bag and holding them out of her reach when she grabbed for them. 

“What about your car?” She asked. 

“Marcos is gonna watch the kids for the rest of the weekend, so he can drive it back.” His brother nodded next to him, already holding Sea Hawk’s keys in hand. 

“Okay, whatever,” Mermista sighed. “That means you gotta go to dinner with us, then.” They’d made plans to go to a local diner for dinner just before they started packing up. 

“That’s the plan, gatinha,” Sea Hawk said with a smirk. “Bow already invited me.” 

Catra made a retching noise, pretending to stick her finger down her throat at Sea Hawk’s nickname. 

After depositing Mermista’s surfboard in the back of Scorpia’s pickup with Perfuma’s, then grabbing dry clothes from his car before Marcos left, Sea Hawk came back to Mermista’s car. She was now wearing denim shorts and pulling a sweatshirt over her head. She reached up under her sweatshirt in the back and after a moment of wiggling, pulled her bikini top off before putting her arms in the sleeves. 

“Impressive,” Sea Hawk said with a whistle. Mermista shrugged. 

“Years of practice taking my bra off as soon as I get in the car,” she said. 

“Can you two get a room or come on? I’m starving,” Catra said as she rolled down the window in the back seat. Mermista rolled her eyes then walked around to the other side of the car, getting into the passenger side. Sea Hawk put his shirt on and got into the driver’s side. 

“Do you know where this place is?” He asked as he turned the key in the ignition. 

“I do,” Catra said. “I’ll tell you where to go.” She was sitting in the center of the back seat, leaning forward. Mermista pulled her hood up over her head and pressed her face against the window, closed her eyes as Catra took the aux cord and started playing some music. Her eyelids felt heavy. 

“Ooh, essa é boa, [oh, that’s good.]” Sea Hawk said. 

“De que parte do Brasil você é? [What part of Brazil are you from?]” Catra asked, testing the water. 

“Vitória, e você?[Vitória, you?]” 

“Uma cidadezinha em Minas. E aí, como que a Mermista é na cama?[A small town in Minas. Hey, what’s Mermista like in bed?]” She glanced over at Mermista, who didn’t even flinch at the sound of her name. 

She’d fallen asleep in class enough for Catra to know she could fall asleep anywhere, evidently the car was no exception. 

Sea Hawk chuckled. “Não sei se ela ia querer que eu falasse disso.[I’m not sure she’d want me to talk about that.]”

“Aww, por que não? Ela me falou de você,[Aww, why not? She told me all about how you are,]” Catra lied, smirking at the sight of his ears and neck getting red. 

“F-falou?[R-really?]” He stuttered. 

“Coisas boas, claro![Good things, of course!]” Catra reassured him. “Ela grita? Ela é muito tensa, aposto que ela é selvagem na cama pra compensar.[So is she a screamer? She’s so uptight all the time, I bet she’s wild in bed to make up for that.]”

Sea Hawk chuckled. “Ela não grita, mas é incrível.[Not a screamer, but yeah she’s wonderful.]” He moved his hand to her thigh and gave it a little squeeze. She stirred for a second, moving her hand to his, then settled down again.

“Então, hum, o que ela falou de mim? [So, uh, what did she say about me?] He asked sheepishly. 

"Ah, nada! Eu só queria ver o quão manipulável você é. Dá pra imaginar ela falando disso com alguém tão abertamente?" [Oh, nothing, I was just trying to see how gullible you are. Can you really see her talking about that with anyone openly?] Catra laughed. 

"Escrota," [Oh, you bitch!] Sea Hawk said playfully, shaking his head and grinning. "Por favor não fala pra ela que eu disse isso, então." [Please don’t tell her I said that, then.]

"Relaxa, ela vai descobrir que você é um bobão sozinha. Quando você se mudou pra cá?" [No worries, she’ll find out you’re a dumbass all on her own. When did you move here?]

"No inverno de 99, eu tinha 2 anos." [Winter of 1999. I was 2.]

"Por sorte, eu me mudei só há quatro anos." [Lucky, I just moved here 4 years ago.]

"Nossa, sério, só isso? Seu inglês é muito bom, você nem tem sotaque." [Wow, really, only that long? Your English is so good, you don’t have an accent.]

Catra shrugged. "Meu padrasto só falava inglês e pouquíssimo português, então quando eu morei no Brasil eu já falava inglês. Além disso, eu amo música e livros americanos, então me forcei a aprender assim. E também tentei me livrar do sotaque, obrigada. Eu só queria me encaixar. [My step-dad only spoke English and very little Portugese, so when we lived in Brazil i was already regularly speaking English. Plus, I really like American music and books, so I just forced myself to learn that way. Also, I tried really hard to get rid of my accent, thanks. I just wanted to fit in.]

"Faz sentido" [Makes sense,] Sea Hawk said. 

"Você é bem fluente pra quem basicamente cresceu aqui" [You’re super fluent for someone who basically grew up here,] Catra said. 

"É, bem, minha família inteira fala. Depois que eu já tava fluente em inglês a gente só falava português em casa até meu pai se casar de novo. Eu tenho irmãos mais velhos então isso ajudou. E eu uso no trabalho." [Yeah, well, my whole family speaks it. After I was fluent in English we almost exclusively spoke Portugese at home until my dad remarried. I have older brothers, so that helped. And I use it regularly for business.]

"Trabalho?" [Business?] Catra asked. "Tem a ver com aquela arma, né?" [Something to do with that gun, huh?]

"É, algo do tipo." [Yeah, something like that.]

"Não vem fazer mistério agora, que tipo de trabalho?" [Don’t get all mysterious on me now, what kind of business?]

"Drogas. Eu distribuo pro Rogelio e pra uns outros." [Drugs. I distribute to Rogelio and some others.]

"Legal! Você consegue fazer algo mais barato pra mim?" [Oh, cool. Can you get me stuff for cheap?]

"Depende do quanto a Mermista gosta de você," [Depends on how much Mermista likes you,] Sea Hawk said with a wink.

“She loves me,” Catra said, wrapping her arms around Mermista in the front seat and waking her up. Mermista grumbled and grabbed Catra’s forearms, shoving them off of her. She put Sea Hawk’s hand back in his own lap before pulling her knees to her chest and her hood further over her face, resting it against the glass again.

Sea Hawk and Catra laughed together, and Catra began to tell him where he needed to turn to get to the diner. 

They were the last ones to arrive at the diner. Catra slid into the booth next to Adora, and Sea Hawk and a very sleepy Mermista sat across from them, Mermista between Perfuma and Sea Hawk, sitting across from Adora. Mermista hooked her thigh around Sea Hawk’s to give him more room since they were all squished into the booth. He moved his arm and grabbed her thigh, the feeling making her stomach tingle. 

How Mermista found herself, still slightly drunk, in the center of this triangle of extremely hot people, she’d never know. All she knew was that her face was hot and the way Sea Hawk was absentmindedly tracing circles on the inside of her bare thigh was not helping the least bit. 

_Focus, focus, on the menu,_ she chanted to herself inside of her head as she leaned over to look at it with Perfuma. It was a vegan diner, and Perfuma was in heaven with all of the choices she had on the menu. Scorpia had been trying to convert too, and while Mermista didn’t avoid meat altogether, she did eat a mostly plant based diet. 

They agreed as a table to each get something different so they could all share. Sea Hawk and Bow were having a conversation about Bow’s current project car (apparently Sea Hawk was kind of interested in drag racing, but had never gone?) and Adora was talking about her most recent football game. Mermista didn’t know anything about football, but Adora was so into whatever she was talking about that it was hard not to listen and watch her blue eyes sparkle. Mermista ping-ponged between the conversations silently, sipping on her drink, until Perfuma put a hand on her shoulder. 

“What do you think?” Perfuma asked. 

“About what?” Mermista asked, not bothering to hide the fact that she wasn’t paying attention.

“Can Scorpia and I borrow your surfboard again later this week?” Perfuma asked.

“I want to give it another go when it’s not as busy,” Scorpia said with her usual comforting smile. 

“Oh yeah, sure. Just take care of my baby. But Scorpia should really be using yours, Perfuma, it’s longer.” 

“Why’s that matter?” Perfuma asked. 

‘“Cause Scorpia’s like half a foot taller than me and my board is literally custom sized for my height and weight. She’s losing her balance so easily because mine’s too short for her.” Mermista smirked. “You should know this, _you_ taught _me_ how to surf.”

Perfuma waved her hand. “Yeah but you’ve always gotten way more into it than I ever did,” she laughed.

“Yeah, whatever whatever,” Mermista replied.

The food arrived, and they all tuned into the conversation at the other side of the table. Catra was telling an embarrassing story about her first kiss. 

“And after that was when I knew I exclusively liked women,” she said, crossing her arms and leaning back into the booth as the rest of the table laughed. Adora went next at the urging of Bow and, mostly Glimmer. 

“I was 14 and had just made the winning point at my first big lacrosse game. One of my teammates, a junior named Katarina, ran up to me and tackled me to the ground with a hug, which turned into a kiss. I was so nervous and embarrassed because I didn’t know what to do that I just stared at her and she was like ‘oops that was an accident!’ And we never brought it up again. It did make me realize that girls were an option, though.”

“You would be the freshman all of the upperclassman are pining for,” Mermista said, enjoying Adora’s sheepish smile. 

“What was yours like?” Catra asked with a devilish grin. 

“Um, awkward for me,” Mermista said, laughing nervously as her cheeks burned. “I drunkenly kissed Perfuma when we were what, thirteen?” She turned to look at the blonde.

“Fourteen,” Perfuma corrected.

“Right, fourteen, but I’m not, like, tall or buff enough for her so she let me down easy. And then,” Mermista put her arm around Perfuma’s shoulders, “this asshole decides to move across the country to get away from me. Unfortunately, she couldn’t get rid of me _that_ easily.”

“It wasn’t my choice!” Perfuma laughed, moving a hand to ruffle Mermista’s hair. “You know I love you!”

“You don’t feel weird with your girlfriend living with someone who she’s kissed before?” Glimmer asked Scorpia. 

“Oh, no, I already knew, she told me when she talked to me about them moving in together. Besides, I trust Perfuma, and I don’t think she or Mermista would do that to me,” Scorpia said. 

“You’re right, I wouldn’t,” Mermista said. “And, like, Perfuma’d never. She can’t handle all this ass.”

Sea Hawk, who had been quiet after she started talking up until that point, laughed heartily. 

“What?” Mermista said, taking a bite of the piece of black bean and tofu mock-quesadilla Adora had just set in front of her. 

He hooked an arm around her waist and pulled her in for a hug, almost pulling her into his lap.

“You’re bi?” He asked.

“Yeah, problem?” Mermista responded, trying to remove herself from his grasp because everyone was watching them and Bow, Glimmer and Scorpia practically had sparkly anime eyes. 

“Opposite actually, me too.”

“Oh, cool,” Mermista said. “Now get off of me.” Now he had the sparkly anime eyes.

“Gross, get a room,” Catra said, causing Adora to laugh as Mermista’s face got hot. 

“Man I’m starving!” Perfuma said, pulling the attention off of Mermista. Mermista mouthed a quick “thank you” to her best friend and received a wink in response. 

This is why I keep you around, Mermista thought.


	17. Mos-caaa-to

Catra had plans with her roommate after, so they picked her up from the diner after everyone was done eating. Bills were split up, Sea Hawk insisted on paying for Mermista even after she protested like a million times. 

“You’re making me feel like a freeloader,” she complained as they walked back to the table so he could drop off the tip before they left. 

“Don’t feel like that, I just want to treat you like the princess you are,” Sea Hawk said. 

“You’re so cheesy,” Mermista laughed.

“Good thing you’re not laugh-tose intolerant,” he said as he opened the door for her.

“Alright, cool, I’m gonna go walk in front of a bus now.”

“Noooo,” he half-laughed, half-whined, wrapping his arms around her waist. They were the last ones to leave because Mermista had to pee, and everyone else’s cars were no longer in the parking lot so she let this happen. The sun was dipping below the skyline now. “Let’s get you home,” he said after a moment. 

Back at her apartment, Perfuma was leaving just as they arrived. “I’m gonna spend the night at Scorpia’s, are you gonna be alright on your own?” 

“Pfft, yeah, I can handle being alone one night,” Mermista said. 

After Perfuma left, Sea Hawk was about to call an Uber when Mermista stopped him. “Hey, do you wanna stay the night?”

“Sure!” Sea Hawk said, all too quickly. “I just don’t have any other clothes.”

“I’m sure I’ve got some clothes that will fit you, my ass is way bigger than yours,” Mermista joked, smacking his butt before leading him to her bedroom. She dug through her dresser drawers until she pulled out a pair of gray sweatpants, her favorite to wear when she was PMSing because they were so loose. She took a shirt from the drawer underneath it. “This is my dad’s, I accidentally took it with my last load of laundry before I came up here. It should work.” 

“Do you have a good relationship with your dad?” Sea Hawk asked, holding up the shirt to himself and nodding. 

“Yeah, he’s got his issues and stuff but he raised me on his own and I love him,” Mermista said as she grabbed her own clothes to change into after her shower. 

Sea Hawk turned the shirt over. It had the logo of a mechanic shop on the back and on the left side of the chest was embroidered with “Dubashi”. “Dubashi? Is that his name?”

“Our last name, actually. His first name, Hridhaan, is too difficult for white people to pronounce, apparently, so he just started going by our last name. Let me know if those don’t work out, I’m gonna take a shower.” 

Sea Hawk took a shower when she was done. He sang in the shower, sometimes in Portugese and sometimes English. As she was walking back to her room from the kitchen, bottle of white wine, wine cork remover and two stemless glasses in hand, he was singing something that sounded suspiciously like the chorus of Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Run Away With Me”. And he was  _ good _ , she thought to herself. She found herself standing there for a few moments, until she heard the water shut off and she scrambled into her bedroom. 

When Sea Hawk entered the bedroom, finger combing his damp hair, Mermista was sitting on the bed with her legs tucked under her and pouring herself a second glass of wine with the TV remote in her other hand. The only light in the room was the warm orange glow of a himalayan salt lamp and a lit candle on her nightstand. 

“Wine?” she asked. 

“Sure,” he chuckled, sitting down on the edge of the bed and moving to sit next to her as she poured him his own glass with shaky hands. “Are you sure you’re okay to drink this much?” He’d only had two beers after she stole his first one earlier. 

“Yeah, yeah,” Mermista said, waving her hand at him after handing the glass over. “I’m 18, I’m indestructible.” 

“Fair enough,” Sea Hawk laughed, taking a sip. “Oh, wow, is this wine or grape juice? It’s so sweet.”

“It’s Mos-caaa-to,” Mermista said, drawing out the pronunciation and giggling. “Sorry, my palette isn’t very refined. I didn’t drink much wine before Perfuma and this is what she likes.” 

“It’s really good, I just wasn’t expecting it,” he replied, taking another drink. “It goes down really easy.” 

Mermista nodded enthusiastically. “I know someone else who goes down really easily--have you seen this?” She motioned to the TV screen, not giving Sea Hawk a second to react to the first half of her sentence. The preview was for a romantic comedy,  _ The First Time We Met _ . One of the actors looked familiar, but the title didn’t sound familiar.

“I--ah--” he laughed. “No, I don’t think I have, it looks good.” 

“Okay, cool,” Mermista said, clicking play and setting down the remote and a now empty glass on the nightstand. She moved to cuddle up under Sea Hawk’s arm, wrapping one of hers around his waist. “You smell like my shampoo,” she said softly, burying her face in his side. He finished his own glass and leaned over to set it next to hers, moving his hand to run his fingers through her hair which was currently damp and hanging down her back in soft waves. 

She looked up at him, honey brown eyes sparkling and her full lips curved into a soft smile. 

Sea Hawk is beginning to realize now that the way his stomach is fluttering when he looks at her is completely different than any feeling he’s had before with any of his previous partners. Seeing the way she acted around her friends showed a whole new side of her, still cautious and aloof but he could tell she cared a lot about all of them. Her friend Catra had mentioned her being uptight, but it wasn’t that at all. She was guarded, sure, and maybe she didn’t always say what was on her mind, but she always said what she needed to when she needed to. Something he struggled with -- he talked too much but rarely said what he was actually thinking, preferring to say what he thinks people wanted to hear. Which was why he was having a hard time telling her that things between them couldn’t become more than this, for her protection. 

Not that she’d brought up even wanting more, he considered, but it usually came down to that eventually.

She made it even harder when she took the side of his face in her hand and leaned in for a kiss, the taste of wine on her tongue as it danced with his. The alcohol made them both a little sloppier than usual, but the passion was still there as she moved to sit in his lap, straddling him. The shorts she was wearing were riding up around her hips, so he had full access to her thighs, moving his hands up the sides of them. They were so soft and smooth under his fingertips. He adjusted them so they were more lying than sitting, moving her so they were both on their sides as he let his hands explore the rest of her body. He slid a finger under her waistband, and she moved to shimmy out of her shorts so she was just in her soft panties. 

[CONTENT WARNING / SEXUALLY EXPLICIT / SKIP TO NEXT CHAPTER ]

If Mermista wasn’t already relaxed before, what little tension was left inside of her melted away at his touch. She hooked a leg over his hips, pulling him closer. He wasn’t wearing boxers under her sweatpants, she noted, and his half-hard member made her tingle as it pressed against the thin fabric between her legs. She couldn’t help but moan softly into his mouth. 

On cue, Sea Hawk moved a hand between her legs, softly stroking her over her panties. She whimpered so sweetly, and  _ god _ , what a beautiful sound that was. He tangled the fingers of his other hand in her hair as he continued to move his hand over her panties, enjoying every single noise and twitch he brought forth with his fingers.

“ _ Minha _ , you’re so wet,” he said softly.

“Y-yeah,” Mermista breathed, eyes closed now, her mouth twitching as he pushed her panties to the side and began to tease her entrance, dragging his fingers up and down her slit, taking a moment to run them around her clit when he reached it, causing her to gasp and throw her head back. He moved to bite at her breast through her shirt, and she took the message and pulled it off over her head, tossing it to the floor with her shorts before settling back down into him. 

“You are so--god damn--gorgeous,” Sea Hawk said, moving to suck on and circle his tongue around her nipple until it was hard before moving to the other one, sliding two fingers inside of her as he did. She gasped, the sound causing him to shiver. He’d never reacted like that, his body feeling electrified and she hadn’t even touched him yet. He tried to bury it as he moved to press his lips to her collarbone, sucking on the space before it as he continued to fingerfuck her, using his other hand to hold her close to him and exploring her neck and shoulders with his lips. The grip she had on his hips with her calf was slowly loosening as the grip her walls had on his fingers tightened. The beautiful sounds she was making were driving him crazy. When he moved to slip a third finger in, she cried out and buried her face in his chest, panting as he moved his thumb to her clit. 

“ _ Don’tstop—“  _ Mermista cried. Like he would ever, not when she sounded and looked like this. He started to move faster, enjoying the wet sounds his fingers made between her legs. Her orgasm had her all but screaming as she felt it come over her like a wave, sending warmth through her body. Her back was arching so his arm was pinned between their stomachs as she came around his fingers. After a moment of letting her recover, with her panting in his arms, he started to move them again. Her eyes opened, wide, as he began to rub his thumb in circles around her clit again, her body already shaking as she grinded her hips towards his fingers. 

“Gostosa, come for me,” Sea Hawk whispered in her ear as she whimpered, squeezing her eyes shut and nodding. Her lips slightly parted as he sped up his pace, and a few seconds later she was clutching his shoulders. 

“Oh _ gods _ ,” she cried out. “Oh fucking--Sebastian!” Mermista called his name, her breath hot on his ear as she came again, harder this time than she thought she’d ever come before. When he pulled his fingers out of her, her wetness spilling out at the same time, she unhooked her leg from him and collapsed onto her back. Her hair spread out on the pillow, face red, chest heaving as she found herself again. 

“Did you _ — _ did you call me Sebastian?” Sea Hawk asked. 

“Yeah. I-is that okay?” Mermista responded, her voice soft and breathy.

“Yeah I’ve just _ — _ it’s just that nobody’s ever called me that… like this before.” Something about the way she said his name, his real name brought that electrifying feeling back. Outside of his family and Nancy, nobody ever called him by his birth name. The way Mermista said it, the sound of his real name on her lips was probably the most wonderful sound he’d ever heard.

“I don’t have to--”   
“I liked it a lot,” Sea Hawk interrupted, sweeping her hair out of her face before kissing her again. A moment later he was on top of her, using his knees to part her thighs. She grabbed the hem of his shirt and pulled it off of him, taking in the sight of his chest and, hnng, those abs that stopped her brain from working. She ran her fingers down his chest, taking care to pay attention to his nipples and enjoying the way that made his breath catch. She continued down, the feelings of his abs tightening as she did exciting her. In a swift motion, she moved her hand under his waistband and took his hard member in her fingers, stroking his length. He exhaled sharply, pulling back to ask, “Condom?”

“Top drawer,” Mermista sighed as he moved in for another kiss. He reached towards the nightstand, fumbling for the handle, when he knocked something off of it. It shattered on the floor, and they both sat up. 

“Ohh, shit,” Mermista said as they watched the candle set her previously discarded shirt on fire. 


	18. guess I’ll die

“Condom?”

“Top drawer,” Mermista sighed as he moved in for another kiss. He reached towards the nightstand, fumbling for the handle, when he knocked something off of it. It shattered on the floor, and they both sat up. 

“Ohh, shit,” Mermista said as they watched the candle set her previously discarded shirt on fire.

She quickly shoved Sea Hawk off of her and moved to get off the end of the bed, grabbing her damp towel from where it was hanging from her desk chair and dropping it on top of the fire, pressing it down to smother the flames while trying to avoid the glass shards. She glanced at the smoke detector on the opposite side of the room and willed it not to go off, because she wasn’t really in the mood for the sprinkler in her ceiling to soak them and everything she owned.

“Okay, so, like, I know I’m hot, but, maybe don’t try to burn my apartment down,” she said, looking up at Sea Hawk.

“Sorry,” he said sheepishly as Mermista got up and grabbed a dark teal satin robe hanging off the back of her door and slipped it on. 

“It’s cool, accidents happen,” she said surprisingly calmly, despite her brain going into anxiety overdrive about what _could_ have just happened. “I’ll be right back.”

Mermista came back with a broom and dustpan. While she was gone, Sea Hawk flipped on the lights and used the towel to pick up the majority of the glass and her now ruined shirt, and she swept up the remaining shards. They managed to pick everything up without further injury, but the wood floor had a scorch mark on it. 

“Ah, well, there goes our deposit,” Mermista said, reaching to take the towel full of glass from Sea Hawk. “Um, don’t worry about the wax, I’ll get it in the morning when it’s dry and easy to scrape off.”

“Oh shit, I didn’t even think about that--I can pay to fix it,” Sea Hawk said nervously. 

“It’s cool, I was just kidding. I’m pretty sure I can get some sandpaper and buff it out,” Mermista said, waving her hand before leaving the room to throw everything away. When she returned, she added, “You’re just lucky that wasn’t one of my favorite shirts, otherwise I’d be pissed.”

She hit the button on the remote, turning off the TV that neither of them had even glanced at before she laid back on the bed, and held out her arms. “C’mere.” 

Sea Hawk did as he was told. The mood had died down and the fire sobered both of them up, but Mermista cuddled up to him and was tracing lines on his chest with her finger. It felt nice, a level of intimacy Sea Hawk rarely got to experience. He pressed a kiss to her hair, inhaling the soft floral scent of her shampoo. 

“So how did you end up finding out that window latch was broken?” Mermista asked suddenly. 

“Hmm?” Sea Hawk responded, still intoxicated by her scent and the feeling of her fingers on his chest. 

“Our kitchen window that leads out to the fire escape,” Mermista clarified.

“Oh! I had a friend who lived on the third floor of this building. Your lease doesn’t allow pets? Theirs didn’t either. But they found this pregnant cat and didn’t want to leave it on the street. They knew this apartment above them was empty so they were going to see if they could get a viewing from your landlord and like, crack open a window or something, but they climbed the fire escape and found out the window latch was already not working. The cat stayed here for a little bit, had her babies and he found homes for all of them. Then he got a new place that allowed him to have cats and kept the mom and one kitten. But when they were here, I came by to sell him some weed and chill, and he showed them off to me and I just… remembered.”

“ _That’s_ why I had such bad allergies when we moved in here!” Mermista exclaimed. “I thought I was going _crazy_. Like Perfuma and I replaced all the air filters and vacuumed everything and I still had allergies for like the first month we lived here. Perfuma convinced me it was, like, my body’s reaction to foreign pollen or something. In July.” 

“You’re allergic to cats?”

“Unfortunately. It sucks because they’re so cute! But that’s why I don’t ever go to Scorpia’s or Catra’s apartments because they both have cats. And I can’t resist cuddling with them.”

“Good thing I didn’t adopt one of those kittens, then,” Sea Hawk chuckled. “Dogs too, or?”

“I don’t think so,” Mermista said. “Also, I guess there are some cat breeds that don’t make the thing that I’m allergic to? But I’ve never met one. It’s not like, the end of the world, Benadryl and Cleratin help.”

“Oh, that’s not the worst thing, then. I’m super allergic to like, tree nuts and have to carry an epi-pen around with me.”

“Really? Do you have one with you now?”

Sea Hawk laughed. “Ahh, I keep one in my car.”

“Yeah but your car isn’t here! So what happens if you like, I don’t know, accidentally eat something with nuts in it?”

“Guess I’ll die,” Sea Hawk joked. Mermista smacked him on the arm. “Ai,” he whined, rubbing the spot she hid him and feigning hurt. 

“Oh hush, it wasn’t that bad,” Mermista laughed, moving to kiss the spot. Sea Hawk took the opportunity to grab the end of the belt on her robe and pulled to untie it, and she gasped dramatically before moving to straddle him. 

“Care to continue?” Sea Hawk asked with a grin, already moving to slide the robe off her shoulders. 

“Just don’t start any more fires,” Mermista teased, leaning down to kiss him. 

༄༄༄

Bow had invited Sea Hawk to the racetrack that night, so he and Mermista made plans to go together after she took him home to change clothes. Because they weren’t sure just how late they’d be out, Mermista packed a change of clothes and her school bag to keep in her car—just in case. 

Marcos blessedly took Sea Hawk’s Jeep back to his townhouse so he didn’t have to run into his father during the exchange. Sea Hawk squeezed Mermista’s thigh when they pulled into his driveway. 

“I actually have something I think you’ll be very excited to see,” he said with a big grin.

“Oh yeah? What is it?” Mermista asked as she turned the car off. 

“Come see,” Sea Hawk said, leading her through the garage and up the stairs. Mermista wasn’t sure what she expected his house to look like, but it wasn’t the industrial contemporary style laid out in front of her. It was cozy and lived in, but super clean, too. Mermista was starting to feel a little embarrassed by her and Perfuma’s cluttered apartment—they were always on the go so things just ended up on flat surfaces and they’d get to them later. 

That thought didn’t last long—Mermista gasped when she set her sights on the huge saltwater reef aquarium in his living room. 

“Woah,” she said, mesmerized as she approached it. “How many gallons is this thing?”

“125. It’s my pride and joy,” Sea Hawk said, wrapping an arm around her waist as he came up behind her.

“It’s _beautiful_. Oh, you have black and white clownfish! That’s so cool!” She crouched down to get a closer look. Sea Hawk ruffled her hair and she shook her head to get away from him, but her eyes didn’t leave the tank. 

“I’m gonna go change, then,” Sea Hawk said. 

“Okay,” Mermista responded, brushing her bangs from her face and tucking them behind her ear as she glanced up at him with a grin. Her face was illuminated with joy, her eyes shining in the blue light from the aquarium.

She made funny things happen in Sea Hawk’s stomach as he smiled back before heading to his bedroom. He took a quick shower and got dressed, returning to the living room where Mermista was sitting on the couch. She took her boots off and had her feet tucked under her as she was scrolling through her phone. Sea Hawk came over, laying down and put his head in her lap. She immediately moved a hand to his hair, a soft smile across her face. 

“Look,” she said suddenly, moving her phone screen so he could see it. “I used to work at this aquarium in Fort Lauderdale and they had a really similar setup for their clownfish, I got to help build it, and they had black and white ones too!”

“Oh, this is adorable,” Sea Hawk said as he watched the video.

“Don’t judge me, I was sixteen,” Mermista said, her face flushed. 

“I’m not! Look how cute you are!” Mermista was leading the camera person down a long hallway lined with beautifully crafted aquariums. Her hair was still blue but shorter then, colorful barrettes helping her hair tie keep it in a ponytail. She was practically skipping, looking back at the camera person with a big smile before they rounded the corner. 

“Ta-da~” video Mermista said with flourish, spinning around and bowing in front of the tank. It was several feet taller than she was with a gorgeous center reef that ascended past where the wall covered the top of the tank. 

“Amazing!” The voice behind the camera said, deep and masculine. 

“Look, look, look,” video Mermista said excitedly, motioning them to come closer before she took the camera herself. She moved so she could point out one of the clownfish nestled in the anemone closest to her. “This is Emo,” she said. 

“Stop,” Sea Hawk laughed, covering his mouth. Mermista was nodding, a big grin spread across her face. “Bubbles,” video Mermista continued as she panned the camera to the next two fish. “Aaaand Marlin.”

“You’re such a dork,” Sea Hawk teased as the video ended.

“Yeah,” Mermista said, laughing as she put her phone down. “Not gonna try and deny that. Did you name yours?”

“A couple of them, yeah. The butterfly fish is Beedle, the tangs are Kass and Navi. I was on a Zelda kick when I got them,” he said. “The others I didn’t really think of names, yet.”

Mermista nodded. “Yeah when you’ve got more than like four or five it gets hard. What made you decide to do a saltwater tank? They’re a lot harder to upkeep than freshwater.”

“I just think they’re cool, and I like how colorful the coral and fish are. How much longer until we need to leave?”

Mermista checked her phone. “Like fourty-five minutes.” She yelped as Sea Hawk wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her into his lap before pressing his lips to her neck, gently sucking on the spot where it met her shoulder. “You just got dressed,” she laughed.

“Yeah, but you already messed up my hair,” Sea Hawk murmured into her neck before running his tongue up to her earlobe. 

“Oh, I didn’t realize it was styled,” Mermista said, biting back a moan as he nibbled her earlobe.

“It wasn’t,” he said before pushing her back onto the couch and positioning himself over her. 


	19. how did you hide a whole ass man from us

Bow and Sea Hawk canceled out any brain cells the other might have, and they were acting like giddy children playing with Bow’s project car. Mermista very generously handled about five minutes of that before Catra pulled her away. They joined Adora and Glimmer where they were sitting on a set of metal bleachers with a blonde guy that Adora introduced as her twin brother Adam. 

“Wow, how did you hide a whole ass man from us all this time?” Mermista asked with a smirk. 

“He’s just visiting! He goes to Cerulian Tides University,” Adora explained. 

“Bright Moon knew they’d be too powerful if they had both of us on their football team,” Adam beamed. 

“Adam’s SAT scores didn’t qualify him for Bright Moon,” Adora corrected, dodging an elbow and easily putting her brother into a headlock.

“I feel like I’ve been babysitting two golden retriever puppies all day,” Glimmer complained as they started wrestling, but there was love in her voice. Mermista smirked at her predicament while Catra settled down next to them on the bleachers. 

A Miata and a Cobra, both beat up early 80s models, were revving up at the launch pad, the burnout creating thick white smoke behind the vehicles as the tires began to heat up. Both lights turned green at the same time, and the cars sped forward. The Miata was about half a second too late at launch but it ended in their favor as the Cobra began to fishtail ahead of it. They overcorrected their spin and Mermista cringed as they ended up slamming passenger-side into the wall. 

“Ugh, I don’t get why Bow is so into this,” Glimmer began again, rolling her eyes. “Like what’s the point? They just go in a straight line and try to be faster?” 

“It’s a lot of work behind the scenes,” Mermista said. 

“Oh, trust me, I _know_ ,” Glimmer continued. “He’s been dragging me down here to watch him work on his car at any opportunity he’s had for the last month. It’s _soooooo booooring.”_

“You sound like Mermista,” Catra chimed in.

“Wow, I’m literally right here,” Mermista said, turning her attention from the track to the brunette.

Catra stuck out her tongue. “Your point?” Glimmer and Adora giggled, Adam was busy rubbing his neck, his attention on the guys who were cleaning up the mess the Cobra had become. Mermista rolled her eyes and groaned before settling down in front of her on the bleachers, sitting so that she could face the group or the track. It also gave her a good view of Sea Hawk as he and Bow were now leaning against the hood of Bow’s little S2000, but that was neither here nor there. 

It started getting chilly as the sun set, and Mermista pulled Sea Hawk’s leather jacket a little tighter around herself. She hated admitting that it felt kind of weird to not have Sea Hawk by her side for most of the evening, after being with him the last four days straight. He and Bow went on several test runs together and had already done three different races, Bow winning one and losing the other two. He almost lost control of the car on the first one he lost, but gained it a split second before slamming into the competitor’s car. After that, Adam decided he wanted to be on the next ride so he joined them. 

“Bow is definitely going to end up crashing that thing by the end of the night, isn’t he?” Glimmer asked, causing Mermista to jump with her unexpected proximity to her ear, but that was the only way she could be heard over the next race. 

“Probably,” Mermista agreed. 

“Come with me to get drinks?” 

“Sure.” With it being Labor Day, lots of people were there crowded around them watching a surprisingly large number of racers. There was no concession stand, so they’d be walking about two blocks to a convenience store. Mermista was more than happy to get off of the now crowded bleachers for a moment, but she wondered if it was a good idea to leave Catra and Adora alone. She glanced over her shoulder as Glimmer led her away from them. Adora was showing Catra something on her phone and they were both laughing. Something prompted Catra to flick Adora’s ponytail, which caused Adora to laugh even harder as she swatted Catra away. They went to the same high school, so there was a little bit of history between them already. 

“I wanted to ask you something,” Glimmer said when they were far enough away. 

“Okay?”

“You’re pretty close to Catra, right?”

“I guess.”

“Do you think she has a crush on Adora?”

Mermista laughed. “Really?”

Glimmer smacked her arm. “I’m not kidding!”

“I don’t _think_ she has a crush on Adora, I _know_ she has a crush on Adora. In fact, I’m pretty sure _you_ know she has a crush on Adora already because _everyone_ knows Catra has a crush on Adora, except _maybe_ Adora.”

Glimmer chewed on her lip silently, and for a moment Mermista felt for her. If she didn’t know though, she had to. At least, in her shoes, Mermista would want to. 

“Do you think she’d like me too?” Glimmer said, stopping and turning to Mermista, brown eyes soft and sparkling.

“I mean… she seems cool with you guys being in a relationship overall, and has even chilled a little on asking me how to win Adora over so… I can’t see why you guys couldn’t all be friends.”

“I don’t mean friends, I mean… something more.”

“Oh… OH. Wait. Thursday you were like, oh man, I don’t know how to eat pussy, now you’re like, I’ve had a taste and now I want MORE pussy?”

Glimmer laughed, starting to walk again. “I guess! We actually talked about it that first night! I mentioned maybe… taking it further, becoming official, and she said she wasn’t sure, that she’d been really thinking about everything and thought she might still have feelings for Catra. I didn’t even know they had a thing in high school.”

“Ouch.” Mermista didn’t know either--Catra had never mentioned _that_. 

“So she told me that apparently they’d drunkenly made out at some graduation party, that’s what ended her relationship with her high school ex, Huntara. Adora said she was still kind of reeling over that relationship loss and avoided Catra all summer, but they… couldn’t completely avoid each other when they started at Bright Moon last year, especially when they had a class together last summer. Apparently I… kind of fucked that up when I showed up. So she’s like ‘is it selfish that I want both of you?’ and I was like, there’s an idea.” 

“Sure, but do _you_ want Catra like that?” Mermista asked as Glimmer opened the door to the convenience store. Compared to the slightly chilly air outside, it was humid and muggy inside of the store. 

“You know, I hadn’t really thought about it until we had that talk. And yesterday at the beach she looked really hot, right?”

Mermista shrugged. 

“Right, you were distracted by Mr. Six Pack.” 

“No!” Mermista’s cheeks betrayed her, turning a shade of deep crimson. Glimmer cackled, grabbing a case of water and putting it in Mermista’s arms. They went over to the drink cooler and she began to browse the options. 

“No need to be embarrassed. Love looks good on you,” Glimmer teased. 

“Gross,” Mermista cringed. “Whatever it is, that definitely isn’t it. I’ve known him for like a week.” 

“You’re _glowing_ ~” Glimmer sang, grabbing half a dozen sodas. If Mermista’s arms weren’t full, she would have smacked her. “I take it he’s good in bed?”

“Ugh, not talking about that. So how are you guys going to approach Catra about this?” Mermista maneuvered the case of water so it was on her hip, grabbing a bag of assorted lollipops and depositing it on the counter next to everything Glimmer put down. 

“I was thinking about asking her out on a date with just me, so I can get to know her and stuff.” Glimer pulled out a black Amex and paid for everything. The cashier bagged it all up and Mermista took the case of water again. Outside, Glimmer opened the bag of lollipops and popped one in her mouth. “What flavor do you want?”  
“Strawberry?” Mermista asked. Glimmer dug through the bag, found one, unwrapped it and popped it into Mermista’s waiting mouth. “That doesn’t sound like a bad idea, the date thing.” 

“Do you think she’d be up for it?”

“Beats me, dude. She’s so horny for Adora she might be down for anything that gets them closer, though.” 

“I don’t want her to settle for me, though,” Glimmer said, frowning. 

“Well, you have to consider that Catra might not be open to sharing. Shit, Glimmer, you might not even be open to sharing once you try it. What are you going to do if you decide that’s not what you want?” 

Glimmer stopped. “I… I didn’t think that far ahead. I guess we’d have to end things, wouldn’t we?”

“Would you? You guys seem to… communicate pretty well. I’m sure you could like, talk about your feelings or whatever and figure it out.” 

“That’s true, we do… Yeah! You’re right! We do communicate pretty well!” Glimmer grinned at Mermista, walking backwards now in front of her with newfound giddiness. Her goofy smile had Mermista rolling her eyes. “We’ll figure it out. Thanks, Mermista.”

“Yeah, whatever. Walk normally before you send your ass flying over a curb.” 

༄༄༄

Sea Hawk had joined Catra and Adora on the bleachers in their absence, and they were all chatting when Glimmer and Mermista came back. Mermista dropped the water on the bleachers with a thud and tossed one to each of them. 

“Thank you, gatinha,” Sea Hawk said with a wink. 

“Yeah, sure, whatever,” Mermista responded, taking her own bottle. 

“No fair, you guys got candy and didn’t get us any?” Catra interrupted. 

“We thought about you, you big baby,” Glimmer said as she pulled the bag out and handed it over. Mermista watched as Glimmer let her hand linger on Catra’s a little longer than normal, a smirk on her face.

Damn, maybe Glimmer did have some game. 

Mermista settled down on the bleachers in front of Sea Hawk, leaning to rest her back against his thigh as he was straddling the bleachers the same way she had been earlier. "Adam took your place in Bow's heart? That was fast," she said to Sea Hawk. 

Catra said something to him in Portugese, and he laughed. Mermista was about to turn and ask what she’d said, but her phone rang. 

The caller ID read ‘Dad’.

“I’ll be right back,” she said, standing up again and holding up her phone as an explanation. Sea Hawk nodded. It was too loud to talk in the bleachers, especially as the next pair of racers were preparing to start moving, the noise from their burnout echoing through the area. 

“Hey, dad, one sec,” she said as she answered, hurrying away from the noise.  
“My little mimi! Where are you? What’s all that noise?” Her father said in his thick accent as she walked behind one of the garages, hoping the walls would be enough to drown out the sound.  
“I’m at a racetrack,” Mermista said. “My friend from school, Bow, has a drag car.” 

“Bow? A boy? He better not be distracting you from your studies, Mermista.” 

“No worries there,” Mermista said, rolling her eyes. “What’s up? Did you do okay during the hurricane?” 

“It changed course and went up the other coast,” her father drawled. “My only child didn’t even call to check up on poor old me.” Great, he’d been drinking. 

“Sorry, dad. I’ve been… a little busy with school and swim and... stuff. I’m glad you’re okay though.” 

“You’re still coming home for the winter breaktime, yes?” 

Mermista chewed her lip. “I don’t know yet, dad, that’s still 3 months away.” 

“Don’t wait too long, I might make other plans,” he said. 

“I won’t.” Mermista looked at the clock on her phone. It was already 8 here, which meant it was 11 in Florida. “It’s pretty late, isn’t it? You should get to bed.”

“I wanted to talk to my daughter! You never talk to me anymore, mimi!” 

Mermista inhaled deeply, closing her eyes, then leaned against the wall of the garage and slid to sit on the ground. “What do you want to talk about?” 

He went on for some time, talking about nothing really, occasionally asking her the same questions -- how’s swim going, are her grades still good, no boys, right? over and over again. Mermista rested an elbow on her knee, rubbing her temple with her free hand. After some time, Sea Hawk found her sitting there. 

“You okay?” He mouthed. Mermista nodded, rolling her eyes and holding the phone slightly away from her head so he could hear her dad talking. Sea Hawk nodded before settling down next to her, his long legs extending out in front of him. He leaned towards her, resting his head on her shoulder, putting a hand on her knee and squeezing it. Mermista found herself leaning back into him. 


	20. safada

After what seemed like a whole lifetime, Mermista finally convinced her father to end the call. She clicked it off with a sigh of relief and gently bumped her head against his. 

“Hey, you,” she said. “What’s up?”

“You were gone for a while so I got worried,” Sea Hawk said, taking her hand and intertwining his fingers with hers.

“I can take care of myself,” Mermista said, looking away to hide her flushed face. 

“I know, just know you don’t always have to.” He squeezed her hand. 

Mermista nodded, turning back and instantly regretted it when she met his gaze. His dark eyes were soft and sincere, the way he looked at her making her stomach do backflips. She decided to glance down at his lips, an even bigger mistake because it made her want to kiss him. 

And fuck it, nobody was around, so she did. 

She put her hands in her pockets when they walked back to the group. Sea Hawk was starting to notice a pattern—she didn’t seem to be super affectionate when they weren’t alone. 

He reminded himself that this was _fine_ because he wasn’t supposed to be letting himself get attached, _idiota._

But God, he couldn't get enough of the way she looked in his jacket and the way her jeans hugged her thighs as she leaned on the concrete wall next to her friend Glimmer, who was currently screaming Bow’s name as he pulled up on the launch pad. Sea Hawk joined them, coming up on Mermista’s other side and using his hands to amplify his own cheering. Mermista looked up at him with a grin and joined in, too. 

From the driver’s side, Bow was blushing and grinning at his cheerleaders. Adam bent over from the passenger side to give them two thumbs up. The other car started its burnout, and Bow followed suit. As the light turned green, both cars took off at the same time. Mermista watched as the rears of both Bow’s Honda and the Camaro he was racing began to sway. Bow managed to correct his, straightening the ride all the way to the finish line. The driver of the Camaro didn’t do as great of a job, the motion slowing them down, landing Bow a win for his fourth race of the evening. 

Bow managed to keep the Honda in one piece the rest of the night, and despite everyone having 8am classes the next day, Mermista and Sea Hawk were the first to leave. 

When they got back to his place, Sea Hawk managed to restrain himself long enough for Mermista to drop her bags on the floor of his bedroom before he had his arms around her. He literally couldn’t get enough of her. 

“You look so good in my jacket,” he growled into her ear, sliding his hands up under her shirt. 

“I know, I think I’ll keep it,” Mermista teased, tilting her head and sweeping her hair to one side so he had full access to her neck. He took note and pressed his lips to the space behind her ear. The feeling of his breath on the back of her neck and the light tickle of his mustache caused her to shiver. 

[ EXPLICIT SEXUAL CONTENT / SKIP TO NEXT CHAPTER]

“Your hands are cold, let me warm them up for you,” Mermista said before sliding them up under her bra. 

“Mmmph,” Sea Hawk groaned into the crook of her neck before pinching both of her nipples at the same time, bringing her to gasp and press her hips back into him. He grazed her ear with his teeth before commanding, “take off your pants and bend over the bed,” his teeth now grazing her neck, “ _safada_.”

Mermista kicked off her shoes while he still held her by her chest, pressing kisses and gently sucking on her neck. When he pulled his hands away, she slipped off the jacket, pulled her t-shirt off and unhooked her bra, letting it fall to the floor. Sea Hawk kicked off his own shoes and removed his shirt and jacket, but left his jeans and belt on. 

Mermista was bent over the bed when he was done, giving him a wonderful view of her backside. A sense of vulnerability floods over her -- in the bright overhead light of his bedroom, she can’t see his face but he can see all of her, spread out and ready for him. As if he could read her mind, Sea Hawk pulled the chain to turn off the ceiling light, so the room was illuminated only by the diffused light emitted by the lamp on his bedside table. 

Sea Hawk easily slid two fingers inside of her, bending over and taking her jaw in his other hand. 

“Have you been this wet for me all night, gatinha?”

“Only because you spent the whole drive home with your hand between my legs,” Mermista breathed as he thrust his fingers inside of her. “Maybe next time I’ll—“ she inhaled sharply as he started moving faster, hitting _that_ spot so easily, “—wear a skirt,” she finished.

“Now there’s a thought,” he murmured, his breath hot on her neck. “I’d bet you look amazing in a skirt. Especially all bunched up around your waist while I rail you.” Mermista whimpered, shivering, and pushed back her hips to meet him, wanting to feel more of him now. He grabbed her hips and pushed her against the bed, holding her down, enjoying the way she whined in protest. 

“Sea Hawk,” she groaned, quickly losing whatever thought she had when he Sea Hawk dropped to his knees, pulling his fingers out and moving his mouth between her thighs, “—aah!” It felt like her system crashed as the only thing on her mind at that moment was the feeling of his tongue between her lips, sending electric shockwaves through her entire being. 

Mermista’s legs were trembling, shaking as she struggled to keep her ass in place for him as he ran his tongue up her slit, starting at her sensitive clit and moving to her slick entrance. “You taste so—fucking—good,” he groaned as he savored her, using his hands to spread her luscious cheeks. Testing the waters, he slowly moved his tongue up to her anus.

Mermista was nervous but she didn’t protest as he explored. He had yet to do something that _hadn’t_ felt good, and—oh— _wow_ —she gasped as his warm and wet tongue circled her anus, a moment later his fingers were inside of her wet entrance again. She felt like her heart was going to explode out of her chest as she involuntarily pushed back against him with a groan. How the fuck did that feel so good?

Sea Hawk continued lapping at her asshole, tracing circles around it with his tongue and, reveling in the beautiful whimpers and soft moans he brought out of her, and the way that her thighs were shaking against his shoulders. He pressed his thumb to her clit and she all but screamed, her entire body trembling as the high pitched moan bubbled up from her chest.

“Don’t—fuck—I’m—” she gasped before burying her face in the sheets, the rest of her words and moans muffled by the fabric.

“Don’t hold back, come on, sweetheart—I want to hear you come for me, Mermista,” Sea Hawk pulled back and commanded before diving back in. He slapped her ass again with his free hand as he pushes his fingers deeper and rolls his thumb against her clit, exactly the right amount of pressure, exactly what she needs, and she snaps. 

“Fucking—!” she cried out as he felt her walls tighten around his fingers, and what little control she had left in her legs left as she collapsed onto the bed, her hips dropping onto the mattress as she came. Sea Hawk pulled his fingers out of her with a slick ‘pop’, and pressed a kiss to her backside as she panted, her wetness dripping down her inner thighs. 

His untouched erection twitches in his pants, straining against the fabric. He stood up and began reaching for his belt. Mermista’s head whipped back at the sound of the metal unbuckling, brown eyes wide.

“What’s wrong?” Sea Hawk asked, stopping what he was doing with both hands. 

“A-are you gonna use that on me?” Mermista asked, her voice small. 

“The belt?” Sea Hawk asked, glancing down at it. “Do you want me to?”

Mermista swallowed. “I don’t know, maybe?”

Sea Hawk chuckled. “Let’s talk about it when we both have clear heads, okay?”

“Deal,” Mermista said, returning to her former position with a relieved sigh. Not that she was sure she was capable of having a clear head around him, not when he looked and spoke the way he did. She wiggled her butt at him, anxious to be touched again at the sound of his jeans hitting the floor and the condom wrapper being ripped open.

Sea Hawk surprised her by spanking her with his hand, then with a soft groan and one thrust, his thick member was deep inside of her. Mermista cried out, “Oh, _fuck_ ,” as her back arched involuntarily, meeting him and taking him even deeper. Sea Hawk gave her a moment to adjust before pulling back slowly and slamming back into her, savoring the little gasps and noises she made with each thrust and the way her fingers gripped the comforter. He licked the tips of his own fingers and hooked his arm around her thigh, moving towards the space between her legs. He found her clit and rubbed circles around it. She wails in response, swaying her hips from side to side to feel more of him. 

“That’s it, darling,” he says way too calmly, especially when he was making her feel like _that_. She slammed her hips back into him, trying to meet him, but he pulled out after she did. 

“No, please,” Mermista whined, looking back at him, but his hands were on her hips and he was flipping her over onto her back, fast and gentle. She wasn’t sure she’d ever get used to how easily he could just pick her up and toss her around. He had paused for a moment, catching his breath, and she took in just how good he looked. The veins in his forearms were showing as he pushed his hair out of his flushed face, head tilted to his side, his lazy grin all boyish and dimples. Who gave him the right to look like that?

Sea Hawk climbed on top of her, still between her legs, and she moved up to meet his lips as he caressed the side of her face. “You’re so fucking gorgeous, Mermista,” he sighed into her mouth. She wanted to turn away, hide her flushed face, but who cared at this point? It was just the two of them, and she wanted more of him. His arms were around her back now, holding her to his chest as their tongues danced. She moved her hand down to stroke his member, guiding him to where she wanted him, biting on his lip as she did. He pulled back with a grin as she lined him up with her entrance. “So it’s gonna be like that?” 

“I want you,” Mermista growled. “To fuck me.” Just in case it wasn’t clear. 

“So impatient,” he said before he obliged, thrusting himself inside of her. He held onto her as she arched her back, throwing her head back. Her hands found his back and she clung to him, her nails digging into it as he rocked into her, still so in control of the situation as he pulled himself almost all the way out before sliding right back in. He couldn’t keep his hands off of her, yet here he was, totally cool as he was sending waves of electricity through her body with his touch.

Mermista wanted—no, needed him to be as into this as she was. She needed him to be as noisy as he was making her, to fall apart on her the way she was about to fall apart under him. 

She pressed her lips into his, pushing her tongue into his mouth and rocked her hips into him, rolling them in a figure eight as she met his thrusts, exploring the inside of his mouth with her tongue. She felt his chest hitch as his breath caught in his throat, his arm that was holding them both up from the bed slid under her and her back hit the mattress with a soft thud. He tried to pull back, but she moved her hand to the back of his head, tangling her fingers in his hair and digging her nails into his back with the other hand. 

“ _Porra_ —” he groaned into her mouth. She pulled his hair, moving his head to the side and exposing his neck. He’d slowed down at this point, distracted. She nibbled his jawline and he let out a satisfying little moan, before she moved to his ear. 

“Did I say you could fucking stop?” She commanded, pulling his earlobe with her teeth. He picked the pace back up, and she raked her nails up his back as she sucked on his neck, the space above his collarbone that was still slightly bruised from last time. 

“ _Gostosa_ ,” he gasped as she bit down on the soft skin there.

  
“Harder—f-fuck me h-harder, Seb—bastian,” Mermista stuttered, trying to keep that commanding tone but her demands came out more like a whine as the waves of pleasure were building up inside of her. 

“I’m really close—” Sea Hawk choked out. 

“C-come with me then.”

Instead of answering, he picked up the pace, rocking inside of her, deep and hard. Mermista wrapped her legs around him, her heels digging into his hips as she threw her head back, her quest to drive him mad all but forgotten as he plowed her. She raked her nails down his back one more time, the desperation to have him closer intensifying with every single thrust. She felt her eyes roll back as her body tensed up, a wave of fire exploding between her legs. 

Sea Hawk feels her walls tighten around him and that’s all that he needs, with one last thrust he’s falling apart on top of her, emptying his load into the condom. Mermista whimpers, burying her face in his neck as she starts to come down from her own orgasm. 


	21. spice of life

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Dream Market is the name of a popular and current Darknet Market. I wanted to link a relevant episode of my favorite podcast, Darknet Diaries, and another podcast he mentions covering the Silk Road, for those of you who might want more info: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4sMVVjgOfN4DixQkk3pUcu?si=wu6cq1f3RQePHNeo2oekUA
> 
> https://open.spotify.com/episode/6y7EbFjfnKXq2e7aCt81A7?si=hDlMxCE3TxaV1F_9BELv0g
> 
> Oh and I also have a playlist I’m constantly curating to go along with Smash, if you’re interested: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4YEUzdNLRy1B8LtxnaoCUm?si=a6Q5Fa0mQCyn7wjKX7lqyA

Mermista woke up to the electronic beep of her phone alarm. She rolled over, disoriented, as she reached for it on the bedside table, but her fingertips grazed a pillow instead. She sat up, rubbing her eyes before looking around. She was at Sea Hawk’s, she remembered. His soft blue comforter was now bunched around her hips, and her phone was still going off. She found it tangled in the sheets. She turned off the alarm, then realized suddenly that she was alone in the bed. Last night, he packed a bowl of what he called ‘nine pound hammer, an indica heavy strain nicknamed that because it’s going to knock you out like one,’ and they’d shared it. After, she’d definitely fallen asleep with her head on Sea Hawk’s bare chest to the sound of his soft snoring.

Did she accidentally kick him out of the bed or something?

She climbed out of the bed and made her way to the door, cracking it open. The hallway was illuminated from the kitchen, and she heard the sound of fingers tapping away at a keyboard in the same direction as the smell of coffee filled her nostrils. Okay, cool, she probably didn’t kick him out of the bed. 

Her alarm was set for 6:20, with the intention of leaving by 7:10 to get to her 8am class. The commute from Sea Hawk’s house was unfamiliar, not to mention she wasn’t sure what the parking situation at school would be like. She didn’t even hear an alarm, had he just woken up before that on his own?

Had he, like, been waking up before her and just chilling in bed until she woke up the last few days?

Mermista wanted to ask, stepping out into the hallway, but retreated back when she considered her bedhead and morning breath. She grabbed her bag and quietly made her way to the bathroom across the hall. She didn’t know why she was being so quiet and sneaking around, but for some reason she didn’t want to disturb him. 

After brushing her teeth and washing her face, Mermista spent some time on her makeup, maybe a little more than usual. It was still Tuesday morning before class, so she didn’t get much further than her usual smoked out bronze eyeshadow with soft black liner, mascara, concealer, chapstick and filling in her brows. Unimpressed by the small cluster of whiteheads that appeared near her hairline overnight, she decided her bangs were staying down today as she french braided the rest of her hair away from her face. 

Back in the bedroom, she changed out of the oversized shirt and leggings she’d slept in. She almost grabbed his leather jacket again, but one of her favorite things about dating—wait, no— befriending, a dude was raiding their closet, so…

A few minutes later, she was walking into the kitchen where Sea Hawk was sitting at the counter, his laptop in front of him. He wasn’t typing furiously anymore, instead chewing on the end of his pen as his eyes scanned the screen. A half-eaten plate of toast and eggs and an almost empty mug of coffee sat in front of him. 

Mermista sidled up next to him, where he was still distracted on whatever it was he was working on. The screen featured just a wall of white text on a black background, and he seemed to be doing math on the notepad in front of him. A couple of boxes on the screen had numbers in them.

“Good morning, gorgeous girl,” Sea Hawk said when he finally noticed her, breaking out a big grin as he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her in to kiss her temple. “Did you sleep okay? I made coffee and if you want I can make you breakfast?” He pushed back the barstool and stood up. 

“Yeah, I did, thanks. Coffee sounds good,” Mermista said cooly, setting her bags on the ground. “You don’t have—”

“I want to,” Sea Hawk interrupted, placing a finger under her chin and tilting her head back gently. His pupils were wide, making his dark eyes seem even darker. The way he said it, so relaxed and sure of himself, almost made it more intimate than it was. 

“No it’s just that… on Tuesdays, Bow, Catra and I take turns bringing breakfast since we all have the same first class. It’s Bow’s turn today.” 

“Ah, damn,” Sea Hawk said. “And here I was ready to showcase my cooking skills.” 

“Rain check?” Mermista asked, giving him a soft peck on the lips. He tasted like coffee, a little bit of smoke and something she couldn’t name. 

“Definitely,” Sea Hawk responded quickly, agreeing to something he wasn’t sure he had the right to, but he was almost positive that those honey brown eyes could convince him to steal the moon if she asked. “Do you have time to chill a little or do you need to get going?” he asked as he stepped away, heading towards the coffee maker. 

Mermista glanced at her phone screen. She had about 20 minutes, but she also kind of needed some time to catch up on school work she’d neglected over the weekend. “I have a few minutes, but I should probably leave soon,” she compromised.

“Okay, to go tumbler it is,” Sea Hawk said as he opened the cabinet. His drinkware was refreshingly mismatched, a stark contrast from his parents’. The top shelf, however, held enough liquor at various levels of fullness that he could probably open his own bar. It kind of reminded Mermista of her dad’s liquor cabinet. Back at the apartment, she and Perfuma had a half-full bottle of store brand vodka in their freezer and a bottle of red wine Scorpia gave them as a housewarming gift. 

_Well, he is a bartender, so that’s probably normal?_ Mermista considered. 

“I don’t really use creamer, but I have soy milk?” he offered as he chose a dark red Yeti travel mug and filled the tumbler from the coffee pot.

“Yeah, that’s fine,” Mermista said as she approached him. “I’m not gonna turn down coffee in any shape or form.”

Sea Hawk chuckled and casually nudged an almost empty bottle of Vanilla Crown Royale to the back of the counter as he put the coffee pot back, before turning to her. He finally noticed his navy, NASA themed varsity jacket on her and smirked. “Tired of the leather already, gracinha?”

Mermista smiled brightly. “Variety is the spice of life,” she said. “Plus this jacket is super cool.” She ran a finger down the embroidered NASA patch. 

Sea Hawk nodded. “It’s a favorite of mine, so take care of it, okay?”

“I will,” Mermista said, wrapping her arms around herself, enjoying the warmth. 

Sea Hawk grabbed the soy milk for her and leaned against the counter, palms pressed back against it so his arms were flexed as she fixed up her cup with it and a few stevia packets. Mermista definitely took notice, admiring the way the fabric of his t-shirt strained against his biceps. 

“What time did you get up this morning?” she asked just before lifting the cup to her lips and tasting it. “And, like, why?”

“Like 5, because that’s what time my brain decided to wake up this morning… I couldn’t fall back to sleep and I didn’t want to wake you up moving around. Miss me?” 

“No,” Mermista said, leaning against the counter across from him, holding the tumbler up to her mouth to hide her smile as he pouted in response. 

When it was time for her to leave, Sea Hawk walked her downstairs and to her car. The concrete was cold on his bare feet and it seemed like autumn was finally making its way to Salineas with a cool breeze as Mermista put her bags in the back seat. The back door hadn’t even shut all the way before he pulled her into a hug that caused her to stiffen before she relaxed into it, wrapping her arms around his waist, pressing her cheek to his chest. He smelled so good, not like his cologne just now but like… Like Sea Hawk. 

When he pulled back, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her lips to his, soft and sweet. He hesitated before melting into it, his hands finding her waist and pulling her closer. After a few moments, she pulled back with a soft thud from the heels of her boots hitting the driveway. 

“Bye,” she said, turning to open the car door, her face flushed. 

“Hey, drive safe, okay?”

“I’ll text you when I get there,” she responded automatically. 

Sea Hawk nodded, tapping the roof of the car with his knuckles just after she closed the door. He headed back inside, closing the garage door as she pulled out of the driveway.

Back in the kitchen, he filled his own coffee mug again and topped it off with the remainder of the Crown, giving it a lazy swirl before emptying half of it in one drink. He finished updating his Dream Market inventory and listings while nibbling on his breakfast, then printed out a spreadsheet and mailing labels so he could fill the orders he had built up over the weekend and another sheet detailing the sales from the last few months so he could figure out what he was going to order for the next drop. 

Rogelio had been such an outlier these days that Sea Hawk had to reach out to him directly to pick his brain about product numbers, so he was going to be over later in the day to talk orders and help Sea Hawk package up the current ones. He’d drop them off at a post office in the next town and that would be it. 

Sea Hawk kept himself busy manually calculating what he’d need for the online market, almost finished when Mermista texted him that she got to school safely. A few minutes later, he got another text. She’d attached a picture of herself and Catra with Bow in the background, holding up breakfast sandwiches half wrapped in paper towels. 

7:42am **Mermista:** he literally baked these english muffins himself and they’re SO GOOD

7:42am **Sea Hawk** : Looks delicious! And not just the muffins ;)

7:42am **Mermista** : ok I’ll tell Bow you think so

7:42am **Mermista:** he graciously accepts your compliment and thinks ur pretty cute too

They bantered back and forth until she finished with “class starting”, leaving Sea Hawk alone with his thoughts and a newly opened bottle of Crown. 

He already missed her. 

She was so damn cute standing there in his kitchen with her little Doc Martens, distressed denim shorts over sheer black tights, slightly baggy Iron Maiden t-shirt and his jacket that was long enough on her frame that it extended to her mid-thighs. It was hard to say goodbye, especially when he really didn’t have a reason to suggest another night of sleeping together.

Because that might suggest he was looking for a relationship, and he _should not_ be doing that right now. It wouldn’t be fair to drag her into his mess.

Telling her what he did had been terrifying, but she took it so well. When he said he didn’t want her to get involved—he meant it. He could be cocky about how good he was at this—he easily took over his uncle’s business and was now doing more than his uncle was, even, on his own. His next-door neighbor was a cop and the two of them were friends and sometimes even drinking buddies when it came to big events like the Super Bowl. As far as Officer Morales was concerned, Sea Hawk was just the kid of some rich entrepreneur living off of the interest earned from his trust fund, just smoking, playing video games and fucking around most of his days. 

At the end of the day, though, no amount of precautions and watching over his shoulder could completely take the risk and danger out of the game. The last thing he wanted to do was allow his actions to hurt someone else. It was the reason why he stuck to flings and hookups. It was the reason why he held everyone away at arm’s length, no matter how long he had known them. It had never bothered him before—people moving in and out of his life while he helped them navigate and even nudged them along that path. He was never alone, not really. 

So how come, laying in his bed with her smell still lingering on his sheets, did he feel so fucking lonely?


	22. focused and hot

It was taking all of Mermista’s willpower to not lose focus in her second class. First class had already been a failure, but fortunately Bow sent her a copy of his notes so she didn’t miss too much information. Right now, the professor was going over the meaning of life or whatever and Mermista’s brain was tangled in dark hair and bedsheets. She literally _shivered_ earlier in class thinking about the way he just lifted her up against the shower wall and fucked her senseless last night. After that, he was so gentle when he washed her body. She didn’t need the help but definitely wasn’t going to turn down the offer, especially when returning the favor meant she got an excuse to feel up those abs and his muscular back.

When class was over, Catra said she had thrown a wad of paper at her head at some point after whisper-shouting her name several times didn’t grab her attention, but Mermista was too preoccupied thinking about the way his lips felt, soft and smooth and warm on hers when they said goodbye that morning. 

Yeah, this was not cool or okay in any way.

It was going to be super nice to have her bed to herself tonight. She didn’t have to wear pants, or anything at all, if she didn’t want to. Well, Sea Hawk probably wouldn’t mind if—no. She could stay up late playing games on her switch and probably finish the essay she needed to turn in before Friday. Enjoy time alone with Perfuma. 

Mermista took pride in the fact that she wasn’t the type of person who _needed_ to be with a partner. She was cool being alone. Back in March, when she and Cam broke up after she chose Bright Moon over UCF, she blocked him on everything and left the aquarium they worked at together so she didn’t _have_ to see him anymore. That was the only reason. 

And she took it really well, okay? She had downloaded tinder and dated around a bit, the knowledge that she was moving across the country in just a few short months fueling her pattern of conquests and ghosting. When he came to her house a few weeks later, with takeout from their favorite Peruvian place and a bouquet of roses, she slammed the door in his face and threatened to call the cops if he didn’t leave. 

Alstroemerias were her favorite, and he definitely knew that because she’d specifically requested them with Dahlias for Prom when they were still planning on going together. He had even mentioned the ones that they saw in the vase at one of the stores they’d browsed for her prom dress were the same color as her eyes. He _knew._

She’d unblocked him in July after she’d moved and deleted all traces of them together, and he quickly followed her back on instagram and twitter while she let the Facebook friend request sit in her inbox. She didn’t respond to his DMs or his comments, but she’d occasionally double-tap to like them if she was in a good mood when she read them. 

Now she definitely didn’t miss him anymore, having time to sit and marinate on the flaws in their relationship and how they’d just kind of gotten together out of convenience. Sure they had surfing and swimming in common, but he was irritatingly hard headed when it came to things they disagreed about. He always had to be right. And towards the end of senior year, he almost became malicious with the way he spoke to her. 

“You’re just going to Bright Moon so you can try and get with Perfuma,” he said bitterly during the argument that led to their breakup. She knew her sexuality had made him slightly uncomfortable in the beginning, but she thought he’d gotten over it. “You never want to give me head anymore, are you sure you’re not a lesbian just pretending to be into dudes?” 

That was the end of it for her. He’d spent the last two years hiding his closet biphobia from her. It was exhausting having to constantly reassure him she wasn’t looking at that hot waitress, or the very pretty barista at their favorite cafe. And shit, maybe she should have been, because it would have been a way better use of her time than dating him was. Like, sorry, who wants to give head to someone who just tries to shove their dick in your face after spending the day saying shit like “Are you sure you’re eating _that_ ?” and “Your top is pretty low cut today, who are you trying to impress?” _You_ , dumbass, but not anymore. 

So yeah, now she was definitely at peace with leaving that part of her life behind. It… might have taken some time to get there, but Cam could definitely get fucked, and she’d been telling herself that she didn’t want to jump into another relationship anytime soon. Because she wasn’t the kind of person who couldn’t be alone. 

Catra shoved her, hard enough that she almost fell off the bench she was sitting on.

“What the shit, Catra?” Mermista hissed, grabbing onto the table to catch herself. 

“Stop daydreaming about dick,” Catra teased her. “Adora’s trying to talk to you and you’re just, like, off in Neverland over here.” 

“Huh? Oh. Sorry. What’s up?” 

“I was wondering if you’d already done the quiz for Econ,” Adora repeated.

“Yeah, I did it Sunday, do you need the answers?” 

Adora gave her a sheepish smile. “Please?”

Econ wasn’t even relevant to either of their majors, just a dumb prerequisite, but Mermista was good at reading and comprehending and Adora’s brain worked a little more abstractly. Or, she’d been busy with her face between Glimmer’s legs while thinking about Catra. Whichever. Who was Mermista to judge? She switched over to the online class portal, opened up the quiz and slid it over to Adora. 

“Since we’re just giving away answers, you got the Sociology homework?” Catra asked, sliding closer to Mermista. Mermista shot a glare at the brunette. 

“I don’t know, you should have asked before you tried to shove me off the bench,” she deadpanned. Catra stuck out her tongue at her. 

“I’m just stuck on the last one, take pity on me,” Catra whined, turning her laptop so Mermista could see the question. Mermista rolled her eyes but leaned in to help. She still made Catra actually answer the question, but she steered her in the right direction. 

“How come Adora gets to copy you but you’re making me work?” 

“Uh, because Adora’s a 12 and you’re like, an 8 on a good day,” Mermista replied. “Also, it’s a multiple choice quest. You can’t copy my written answers verbatim.”

Adora gasped, putting a hand to her chest. “You think I’m a 12?”

If Catra didn’t want in, maybe Mermista would try to get in on the throuple action. If like, she got bored of Sea Hawk. She didn’t think she could handle more than he was already putting her through. Yeah, maybe a throuple wouldn’t work for her, either. That seemed like… a lot of work.

Adora finished her quiz just in time for Catra and Mermista to begin their trek across campus to Sociology. 

“You wanna hear something weird?” Catra said once Adora was out of earshot.

“Of course,” Mermista responded, already guessing what she was going to say.

“Last night after you guys left, Bow drove us all home—Me, Adora, Adam and Glimmer—and Adam sat in the front seat so I somehow ended up between Glimmer and Adora in the backseat…”

“Uh-huh. And then?”

“Glimmer was being _so_ nice to me. Like it was weird. She’s not like, an asshole to me or anything, but kind of standoffish sometimes? Then she put her hand on my thigh and left it there the rest of the ride to my apartment.”

“What did you do?” 

“As soon as Bow stopped at my place I crawled out of the car and ran into my apartment. She didn’t get out so I kind of had to sit in her lap to get out of the car.”

Mermista laughed. “This is incredible.”

“It’s not funny!” Catra cried, smacking her arm. “It was so weird!”

“What did Adora do the whole time?”

“She just took part in the conversation and she had her leg pressed up against mine, but it could have just been the amount of room we had in the back seat, I don’t know, I wasn’t complaining.” Catra grabbed the door handle to their classroom and tried to yank it open, but it was locked. 

“Weird, Professor Spinnerella is usually here super early,” Catra said, crossing the hallway and leaning against the wall before sliding to sit on the ground. Mermista joined her after checking her phone. Sea Hawk hadn’t replied at all since she texted him after her first class was over. Maybe he went back to sleep? She sighed.

“Good idea, checking the class email to see if you got an update?” Catra asked. She frowned at her phone. “I don’t get service in these dumbass buildings.”

“Huh? Sure, I can do that.” Mermista opened up her email and, lo and behold, there was an email from their professor. “Oh, looks like she went into labor and we don’t have class at all this week while they figure out a sub situation.” 

“They didn’t plan for that a while ago? She’s been ready to pop basically since the semester started.”

Mermista glanced at her phone screen and shrugged. It was 10:30am. “My next class doesn’t start til 2 so I’m probably gonna go home…” 

Catra groveled at her. “You’re gonna leave me here all by myself?” 

“You wanna come with me? Perfuma doesn’t have class on Tuesdays, but I think she’s working at the yoga studio. I’m probably gonna go back to bed though, so it’s gonna be boring.”

“Did Sea Weed keep you up all night?” 

Mermista narrowed her eyes at the brunette as she stood up. “You coming or not?”

Catra snorted and took Mermista’s outstretched hand, letting her help her to her feet. “Yeah, I could go for a nap.” 

“Just don’t like, try to spoon me or anything,” Mermista warned. 

“Aww, how’d you know that I’m a cuddler?” Catra said, throwing an arm around Mermista’s shoulders for a moment before Mermista shoved her off with a grunt, bringing forth more laughter from Catra. 

“You’re so annoying,” Mermista groaned as they began to head down the hallway. Outside and on their way to the parking lot, Catra spotted Bow across the courtyard talking to someone, animated and waving his hands wildly. 

“He has the next Sociology class, we should probably tell him it was canceled,” Catra said, grabbing Mermista’s arm and pulling her along. 

“Ugh, I’m not a dog, you don’t have to walk me,” Mermista groaned, trying to release her arm from Catra’s grip as she was yanked across the quad. 

Mermista did a double take as soon as they were close enough to see who Bow was talking to—she immediately recognized him as Tomás, because he looked just like Sea Hawk. If Sea Hawk were a decade older and had a full beard and green eyes. Tomás must have noticed, because he tilted his head to the side with a quizzical expression, one she had definitely seen on Sea Hawk’s face before. It was almost scary how similar they looked.

“Hey, Bow~” Catra said in a singsong tone. “Who’s your friend?”

“Hey, Catra, Mermista,” Bow said in his usual cheerful tone. “This is my stats professor, Professor Marinho.”

“Mermista!” Tomás said brightly, holding out his hand. “Not the Mermista who my little siblings have been going on about?”

Mermista felt her face warm up considerably, taking Tomás’ hand and shaking it. “Yeah, probably,” she said, her voice small.

“Sandy just loves you! I had her over last night with my girls and she just went on and on about her new friend! You made quite the impression on her.” 

Mermista forced a small smile in response, feeling awkward under Tomás’ intense stare. Where Sea Hawk managed to keep you at his side while taking all of the attention for himself, Tomás’ attention was like a spotlight, focused and hot. “That’s awesome,” she managed. 

“What are you guys doing? Don’t you have class with Spinerella?” Bow interrupted. Tomás raised his eyebrows, in such a Sea Hawk way. So freaking weird.

“Class was cancelled, she went into labor,” Catra responded. “We just wanted to let you know yours probably will be too.” 

“What? Cool! Thanks guys!” Bow exclaimed at the same time Tomás gasped, “Wait, really?!”

Mermista nodded. “Yeah, she emailed us this morning.” 

Tomás chewed his bottom lip. “My wife is supposed to sub for her, I’m pretty sure,” he said, pulling his phone from his back pocket. “I should call her. It was lovely meeting you ladies, and Bow, I’ll catch up with you later, okay?” He turned to walk away with a quick wave over his shoulder. He stopped suddenly, turning to Mermista as he pressed his phone to his ear. “Hey, Mermista? Keep Sebastian out of trouble okay? Seems like you have a good head on your shoulders. He kind of needs that right now—Oi meu amor!” 

“Sebastian?” Catra and Bow said at the same time as he walked away.

“That’s Sea Hawk’s real name,” Mermista explained. 

“Ohhh,” Bow said, nodding. “Wait! They know each other?” 

Mermista rolled her eyes. “God, you’re so observant. They’re brothers.” 

“Dude, they’re like, _identical,”_ Catra said. Mermista nodded in agreement. Bow opened his mouth to say something, but was distracted as a tall, dark skinned guy with bleached hair tied back in a ponytail was approaching. 

“H-hey, Jewel!” Bow choked out, raising his hand in a quick and awkward wave. 

“Bow! Hi!” The guy said, speeding up his walk to close the distance between them. “Did you hear that Professor Spinerella cancelled our class this week?” 

Bow nodded, his face looking flushed as he uncharacteristically began to fidget with the bracelets on his wrist. “Yep! Mermista and Catra just told me, actually,” he said, motioning to them. 

“Oh, cool. I’m Jewelstar, by the way. My friends call me Jewel, though.” 

Mermista wasn’t sure if she or Bow was more antsy at this point. Catra was giving Bow shit and chatting with Jewelstar, and she just wanted to go home and crawl into bed, now that she knew she could. But what did Tomás mean when he said Sea Hawk needed someone to keep him out of trouble? She must have been frowning, because Bow grabbed her attention and asked if she was okay. 

“Yeah, fine. Just anxious to get home,” she said, shooting a pointed look at Catra. 

“Oh, right,” Catra said. They excused themselves and left the guys alone. Catra was glancing over her shoulder and suddenly nudged Mermista with her elbow and hissed, “They’re holding hands!”

Mermista glanced over her shoulder. They sure were, standing very close to each other and lost in a conversation. Jewel was holding onto Bow’s hand and lightly swinging it. “Cute,” Mermista said. 


	23. i feel fiiiiine

The sound of Catra’s alarm woke Mermista up from the nap a few hours later. She was snuggled into Sea Hawk’s jacket, but it was sandwiched between her and Catra, who she was currently spooning. Their legs were tangled up, and she had an arm hooked around Catra’s waist. 

“Aw, what the hell, Catra,” she grumbled as she sat up. 

“What?” Catra asked, turning off her alarm. “ _ You _ started cuddling with  _ me.” _

“You didn’t have to let it happen!” 

“Aww, but it was kind of nice,” Catra smirked. “You’re so soft and warm.” She laughed when Mermista shoved her. “Besides,” she covered a yawn with her hand. “You kind of just yanked me to you aggressively and didn’t give me much of a choice.” 

“Sorry,” Mermista said. She grabbed her own phone off of the night stand, then fell back onto her pillow. She had a few messages -- Bow had sent her a few memes, Glimmer asking where she was, then a missed call from her, and her cousin reminding her she needed to send her body measurements so she could order the right garments for her wedding next Spring. None of them were from Sea Hawk, though. “Ugh, I don’t want to go back to class now.” She covered her face with Sea Hawk’s jacket, instantly regretting it when the faint smell of his cologne filled her nose. 

She didn’t miss him, it had been, what, six hours? Get it together, dude.

“Well, I don’t care what you do, but at least take me back,” Catra said, nudging Mermista with her thigh. “I have a Bio test.” 

“I’m gonna go,” Mermista groaned. “I’m just mad about it.” Catra laughed and climbed over her. 

“Okay, I’m gonna pee, and when I get back, you better be up or I’m stealing you car.” 

“Can you even drive a stick shift?” Mermista asked.

“Barely! So you better get up, bitch!” Catra let the door slam shut behind her. 

Her phone rang—it was Glimmer, again. 

She hit the answer button, put it on speaker and groaned, “what.”

“Where are you?” Glimmer yelled into the phone. 

“Home, why?”

“Are you coming back to school?” Glimmer sounded panicked. 

“Yeah, I’m getting ready to, actually,” Mermista said as she threw her legs over the side of the bed and reached down to put her boots back on. “Why?” 

“I’m fighting with my mom and could really use a friend right now.” 

“Where’s Bow and Adora?” Mermista looked at the time on her phone. Catra’s class started before hers so she has to get there early anyways, but she wasn’t really in the mood to deal with Glimmer’s current freak out. 

“Adora is in class right now and I think I’ve talked her ear off about it enough already…”

Mermista shrugged Sea Hawk’s jacket back on and realized it might be a good distraction, as Catra banged back into the bedroom. 

“...and Bow is hanging out with his secret boyfriend. Oh! Shit!”

“Hey, Sparkles,” Catra laughed. 

“Fuck! Forget I said anything! Why is Catra there?!”

“Our class was cancelled. Don’t worry, we saw them, like, holding hands and getting cozy earlier,” Mermista said as she got up and grabbed her bag. “Probably don’t be a secret much longer. Meet me in the usual spot. I’ll talk to you when I get there.” She hung up the phone. 

“Your hair looks like shit,” Catra said. Mermista looked in the mirror on the back of her bedroom door. It definitely did, sleeping on her dry braid made it all wild and frizzy. 

“Fuck off,” Mermista drawled as she yanked out the hairtie and finger combed out her braid. Her hair was still sort of damp that morning, so right now she just needed to ruffle it and it fell in soft beachy waves. That was going to have to do for now, because Catra was standing behind her, being antsy, and it was making Mermista anxious. 

Back on campus, Glimmer was draped across the bench in their usual study nook with one arm over her eyes. Mermista dropped her backpack on the table behind her and sat on a chair backwards so she could lean on the back rest. 

“My mom is being such a—a bitch!” Glimmer groaned, sitting up as soon as she heard Mermista’s bag hit the table. 

“What happened this time?” Mermista had known Glimmer for three months now, and she was fighting with her mom more often than she wasn’t. Mermista didn’t have a lot of experiences with fighting with parents -- her dad didn’t really give a shit where she was or what she was doing at any given time. This alienated them from the rest of her family, and the other South-Asian kids at her school were amazed at how much freedom she had, but Mermista learned to self-motivate early and managed to find out what kind of trouble was worth getting into and what wasn’t on her own. Glimmer appeared to have been kept on a short leash, so her newfound freedom from moving in with her best friend and not having that constant supervision had her experimenting wildly. 

Glimmer started going on about how her grades weren’t doing so great and her mom was threatening to make her move back home next semester--”She said she’d stop paying my rent! Like, where is Bow supposed to go? He lives there too! She said ‘Bow isn’t my problem, you are!’”--and how her allowance was being cut until she was at least averaging Bs again. So passing all of her midterms was going to be vital. 

“Well, we’re all doing that big overnight study session Monday, right?” Mermista offered. “Maybe I can sit with you and keep you from getting distracted.” Mermista wasn’t too worried about her own midterms, but she was sort of looking forward to being able to bounce thoughts off of her classmates and friends. 

Glimmer groaned. 

“Your grades aren’t going to get better if you don’t put in the effort.” Mermista was starting to get annoyed. 

“Why couldn’t I just have been born smart like you? That would make it so much easier,” Glimmer whined. 

“It’s not being smart, dude. I work, really, really, hard to keep my grades up,” Mermista scoffed. “I study a LOT and if I’m struggling with something I study that even more. It’s not any easier for me than it is for you. I even had Sea Hawk help me study for my physics test the other day because I’m bad at math.”

“Oh,” Glimmer said. “But you always just seem so relaxed and chill about school, I thought...” 

“That’s because I do most of my work by myself, not just when we’re chilling in the quad or right before I have a test.” 

Glimmer bit her lip, considering. “Okay. If you’d help me study on Monday, I’d really appreciate it.” 

“You need to make sure you put space between yourself, Adora and Catra, then. And Bow if you need that, too.” 

“Okay, okay,” Glimmer sighed. 

* * *

By the time Rogelio arrived at Sea Hawk’s place around 11am, he was already pretty plastered. Rogelio had to call him twice on both phones to get him to come to the door, and he fumbled with the locks for a moment before he opened it, then stumbled going back up the stairs before throwing himself on the couch. 

“Rough night?” Rogelio asked, sitting on the other couch. 

“No, no, no,” Sea Hawk slurred. “I had a  _ wonderful _ night. Mermista slept over. She’s  _ wonderful _ .” He was trying to light the bowl he had in his hand while staying in the same position, and Rogelio rolled his eyes before taking the lighter and doing it for him so he didn’t burn himself or the house down. Sea Hawk gave him a thankful smile while he took a hit, and offered the bowl.

Rogelio took it, walking to the kitchen as he took a few hits himself. He shook his head at the half-empty bottle of Crown on the counter, hoping that maybe he’d opened it a different day. The plastic wrapping from the seal crunched under his foot and he groaned as soon as he realized what it was. He put the Crown away and started searching through his cabinets. 

Sea Hawk was almost fully functional when stoned, but definitely not a functional drunk, especially at this point. He wasn’t even a lightweight, so he’d definitely been drinking all morning. He was passed out on the couch, mumbling something in his sleep, when Rogelio made his way back over to him with a glass of water and a bag of chips. Rogelio grabbed his shoulder and pulled him roughly into a sitting position. He pushed the glass of water into Sea Hawk’s hand and told him to drink it. Sea Hawk slowly and clumsily obliged, taking short sips until the glass was empty. Rogelio took it from him and replaced it with the bag of chips. Sea Hawk took one look at them and, feeling nauseous, shook his head and pushed them away. 

“You’re not going to feel any better until you eat something,” Rogelio said sternly. 

“I feel  _ fiiiine _ ,” Sea Hawk said, chuckling as he pushed them away again. “I just...maybe… need… a nap…”

“When was your last drink?” Rogelio asked. 

“Mmmm, five? This morning?” 

“No, your last one.”

“What time is it?”

“It’s 11:30.” 

“Ten, then,” Sea Hawk said. 

“Dude, we have shit to do,” Rogelio groaned. 

“Then let’s  _ do it _ !” Sea Hawk exclaimed, smacking his thigh. He started looking around, moving couch pillows. “Where’s my phone?”

“Which one?” Rogelio asked. 

“Not the Samsung. I want to… ‘Mista...” Sea Hawk tried to get up, stumbling and falling back onto the couch. He groaned, putting a hand to his head and squeezing his eyes. “Nope, that didn’t feel good,” he said, his voice very quiet.

Shaking his head again, Rogelio stood up and pulled Sea Hawk up, looping his arm under Sea Hawk’s and steered him towards his bedroom. This didn’t happen super often, but often enough that he already knew Sea Hawk was going to be useless until at least this evening but probably until tomorrow. He made sure he had another glass of water before he actually fell asleep, and put another glass with a bottle of Advil on the nightstand for when he woke up later. 

Sea Hawk’s laptop and notebook were at the foot of his bed, but the laptop was locked. Rogelio took the notebook, found a pen in the kitchen and wrote down what he’d sold and what he wanted from the next order, then left, locking the door behind him as he did. 


	24. casual

Sea Hawk acted completely normal the next day, which made Mermista think that she’d definitely spent the night overreacting about him not texting her. He sent her a good morning text before she even woke up, saying he couldn’t wait to see her. 

When she arrived at Seaworthy’s, he was already there, casually leaning against the counter and chatting with the girl behind the bar with his back to her. The restaurant had only been open an hour and only two tables were currently occupied, plus an older man sitting at one end of the bar nursing an almost empty glass of some dark liquid. 

Not unlike last time she saw him there, Sea Hawk looked tired but still pretty damn good in his dark jeans and button-up. When Mermista came up to him, he grinned as he greeted her and placed a hand on her arm but didn’t pull her into a hug like she’d kind of expected at this point. He spent some time introducing her to everyone who was working at the time, showing her how to log into the POS system and clock in and out, where first aid kits and all of the food safety and health procedures were in the back office. He still slipped in pet names and occasional brushes of his hand whenever he found a chance to, but he stayed a respectable distance away from her for most of the shift. 

When lunch came around, Sea Hawk asked if she wanted to go to this place that was just a couple of blocks away, and Mermista obliged because it wasn’t like she had anything better to do. 

“You okay?” she asked while they stood in line at the deli he’d suggested. 

“Yeah, why?”

“You’ve just been… I don’t know, kind of quiet today,” Mermista said. At Seaworthy’s, he was kind of just going through the motions. Mermista knew there was a lot she needed to know, never having worked in a restaurant before, but even when in pain and covered in his own blood the day they first met, Sea Hawk was hitting on her. 

“Oh,” Sea Hawk said. He paused for several long moments, his expression unreadable, before he said, “I just have a headache, I guess.” 

“Oh… sorry,” Mermista replied, averting her attention to the menu board despite already knowing what she wanted to order. 

“Hey, don’t be, it’s not your fault,” Sea Hawk wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close to him. “I just didn’t get a lot of sleep last night.”

_ Me either,  _ Mermista thought, but she didn’t want to admit it. Fortunately, she didn’t have to because they were next in line. They ordered, he didn’t let her pay, and once they got their food they sat outside on the pier with their legs hanging over the side. They shared their sandwiches, Mermista stole some of his fries and they talked about school for a few minutes, when suddenly Sea Hawk pointed towards the horizon. 

“What is it?” Mermista asked, not seeing what he was pointing at. He took her waist and pulled her closer to him, then gently moved her head so they were looking in the same direction. 

“Give it a second,” Sea Hawk said. “Aaand, there!” 

In the distance, a dolphin leaped out of the water and then dipped back under the surface in a quick arch. A few seconds later, another one followed. Mermista gasped in delight, causing Sea Hawk to laugh. He didn’t take his arm from around her waist, and she didn’t try to move it, instead releasing a breath she didn’t realize she was holding, and resting her head on his shoulder as they watched the dolphins play. A few moments later, he very gently took her face in his free hand, leaned in for a kiss, and she met him halfway. They made out until it was time to go back to work. 

Mermista laughed when he pulled back.

“What?” Sea Hawk asked, brows furrowed.

“You’re wearing my lipstick,” she said, looking around for a clean napkin. She picked one up and used the condensation on her drink to dampen it before using it to wipe his face. 

“Oops, I smeared it on you, too,” Sea Hawk said when she was done, using his thumb to wipe it off of the corners of her mouth, lingering on her bottom lip. Mermista took the opportunity to tease him, taking his finger between her lips, sucking on it and enjoying the way his eyes grew wide as his cheeks flushed. Mermista smirked as she pulled back, took out her phone and used the camera as a mirror to reapply her lipstick. It was a beautiful shade of red that complimented her complexion perfectly, and paired well with her neatly applied cat-eyeliner. Sea Hawk, after a moment of pure shock, got up and gathered their trash as she did, throwing it away in a nearby garbage can.

They returned to the restaurant at the same time Kyle was walking into his own shift. 

“Hey Mermista, Sea Hawk!” the blonde said with a wave. 

“Hey, Kyle,” Mermista said. She didn’t have any classes with him, but he was always hanging out with Lonnie so she’d seen him at a few of their swim practices. 

“What’s up my dude?” Sea Hawk said brightly. 

“Oh, you know, not too much. Are you feeling better? Rogelio said yesterday you—“

“Oh yeah! Much better, thanks, Kyle,” Sea Hawk interrupted, shaking his head while being thankful Mermista was walking in front of him. Kyle looked confused for a second before he got the picture, then moved to open the door to the bar for them. 

“Thanks,” Mermista said to him, then turned to Sea Hawk just after they walked back in. “You weren’t feeling well yesterday?” 

Sea Hawk waved his hand casually. “It’s nothing. I just wasn’t feeling great, the headache started then. Rogelio and I had plans that I had to cancel because of it.” Kyle followed them to the back, raising an eyebrow when Sea Hawk spoke but, thankfully, not bringing it up again. 

Mermista wasn’t sure she bought it, but couldn’t figure out what was making her feel that way. She also didn’t have any concrete reason other than a gut feeling to believe he wasn’t telling the truth, so she didn’t challenge him. Maybe he just didn’t want anyone to know he was sick? Or maybe something embarrassing came up he doesn’t want to talk about? Whatever, it wasn’t really her business. 

“Heyyy, Hawk,” a voice behind them sang. Sea Hawk and Mermista both turned at the same time. 

“Lauren, hey,” Sea Hawk said in a flat tone that Mermista hadn’t heard before.

“I’m soooo glad you’re back here, do you have a spare pen? I swear mine keep getting stolen,” the girl said, rolling her eyes. She reached out to touch Sea Hawk’s bicep, but he stepped back. 

“Probably, yeah…” Sea Hawk patted down his pockets, then pulled one out and handed it over. “Here you go.” Mermista noticed her lipstick was still smudged on his thumb, and Lauren definitely noticed too, because her eyes narrowed then flicked to Mermista, who found herself raising her eyebrows and pressing her lips together. 

“Oh, yeah, I heard we had a new waitress. I’m Lauren,” she said in a sharp tone, completely opposite of the one she used with Sea Hawk. She was just a few inches shorter than Sea Hawk, svelte with fair, freckled skin, silky straight blonde hair, and big green eyes. 

“Mermista,” Mermista said dryly, crossing her arms under her chest. She knew Sea Hawk wasn’t hers to get territorial about, but who the hell was this girl, anyways? 

Lauren made an affirmative sound, thanked Sea Hawk with a wink and turned on her heel, bouncing out of the back room with her ponytail swinging back and forth as she walked. 

“She seemed… fun,” Mermista said after a moment. 

Sea Hawk chuckled anxiously. “Loads.” His hand found the small of her back, fingers wrapping around her waist. Her body language, the way she said her name and her response after Lauren left… 

She was being possessive. Shit. 

It was kind of hot. 

Fuck. 

The rest of the training shift went smoothly, they didn’t really cross paths with Lauren as it was a surprisingly busy night for a Wednesday. At one point, the bar got so busy that Octavia called him over to help, so Mermista took orders and put them into the POS while he and Octavia made drinks. They made a damn good team. 

* * *

Thursday, Mermista spent most of her shift with Lonnie. Both of them were only there for six hours because they had a similar school schedule, so she was going to shadow Lonnie for the first half of the shift, then Lonnie was going to shadow her to make sure she was comfortable with everything. The bar was pretty central to the restaurant, so Mermista was interacting with Sea Hawk in short spurts all evening… and maybe watching him when he wasn’t looking. 

“Earth to Mermista,” Lonnie said, hip checking her. 

“Huh? What’s up?” Mermista said, shaking her head to turn her attention back to Lonnie. She’d just spaced out, she definitely wasn’t watching Sea Hawk as he chatted with one of the patrons at the bar. 

“Did you get table 5 their extra ranch?” 

“Yeah,” Mermista said immediately. 

“Okay cool, ‘cause I forgot and that lady looks like she’ll complain if the water’s the wrong temperature,” Lonnie said. They’d had a bit of a pop earlier, but the restaurant had slowed down and they only had a couple of tables, so Mermista was rolling silverware while Lonnie married condiment bottles. 

The closing waitress called out, but by then Mermista pretty much had the hang of things so they just let her take over that section. After 6pm drinks were half off for women for Ladies’ Night, and Sea Hawk just got busier as the night went on. Because of that, they didn’t interact much other than exchanging little smiles as she picked up drinks for her tables. 

Mermista couldn’t help but notice how he interacted with everyone. She wasn’t  _ trying _ to pay attention, but he wasn’t, like, soft spoken or subtle when he flirted with his customers. She kept reminding herself that it was customer service, that was to be expected, right? He was getting paid to be nice and stroke the middle-aged ladies’ egos. She was getting paid to turn up the charm for old dudes who weren’t subtle about staring at her chest while their wives were sitting right there. 

It didn’t make it any less annoying to hear it, though, especially when the object of his attention was, like, 25 and tall and blonde.  _ Maybe he talks to everyone like that,  _ she found herself thinking.  _ I was just dumb to feel like maybe I was different to him. _

Mermista was waiting for him to finish up one last drink for her, leaning against the counter and watching him mix it. 

“You’re doing awesome,” he said as he poured the liquid into a shaker and dropped in some ice. 

“Oh yeah, sure, whatever,” Mermista said, suddenly finding her nails very interesting. 

“No, really! You picked up super fast, coisa linda.”

Mermista shrugged in response. “Thanks, I guess.” 

He poured the drink into a glass and topped it off with a shot of something that made it a really cool orange to yellow gradient before adding it to the drinks already on Mermista’s tray. 

“Thanks,” she said, balancing the tray on her arm and heading back to her section. Sea Hawk watched her go, brows furrowed at the sudden cold shoulder, but his attention was pulled away by someone at the end of the bar asking for a refill. 

After her shift was over, Mermista and Lonnie walked out together. It was dark outside, and the back of the building was lit up by a single flood light. Mermista noted how Sea Hawk had parked his motorcycle next to her car, and wondered if it was intentional or coincidence. 

“What’s up with that Lauren girl?” she asked Lonnie, trying to sound casual. 

“She has a stick up her ass,” Lonnie replied immediately before pressing her vape between her lips. After she exhaled, she asked, “why?”

Mermista shrugged, taking a hit from the vape when Lonnie offered it to her. “She was just kind of an asshole yesterday when I met her.” 

“Were you with Sea Hawk?”

“Yeah, in the back, he was training me. Why?” 

Lonnie laughed. “She has… let’s just say, a thing for him. But just because she knows his family’s loaded, and she’s trying to cash in on that. Kyle overheard her one day talking to this other girl who used to work here about her baby daddies. She has two kids and I guess she only had them for the child support, so… as soon as I saw her hone in on Sea Hawk I warned him. But he told me that as soon as she mentioned his last name and asked about his dad’s company he got turned off. He might be a horny dumbass, but he’s not stupid enough to stick his dick in crazy.”

Mermista mulled it over for a few moments. The weed was already making her feel lighter, both in her shoulders and in her head, and she kind of needed that right now because watching Sea Hawk flirting with anything that moved while also just dealing with people all night had been weighing her down. 

“Huh, interesting,” she finally said, because she wasn’t really sure what to think. 

Lonnie shrugged, scrolling through her phone and taking another hit from her vape. 

“So… you know, right?” Mermista asked, her face hot. “That we’ve been…” 

“Fucking?” Lonnie finished her sentence when she didn’t. “Yeah, I do. Want some advice?”

“I don’t really know if you’re gonna give me a choice,” Mermista said sullenly.

“Keep it casual, because that’s what he’s gonna do. He talks real good but, he’s flighty, so… don’t get caught up in his words, because his actions won’t match. I was gonna warn you if I saw anything but he beat me to the punch.” 

“Did you guys—?”

“No, no way,” Lonnie laughed. “I don’t do fuckboys, and I saw through him the day we met.” 

Somehow, that didn’t do anything to calm the nausea Mermista was suddenly feeling. She sighed, trying to push the tension out with it, then asked to take another hit off of Lonnie’s vape before saying goodnight and heading back home. 

Just keep it casual. Those words echoed through her head until she fell asleep around 2am. 


	25. lemon ginger tea

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I posted two chapters today so make sure you read both! ;)

Mermista was grateful that she didn’t have another shift until Sunday, because the nausea she had the night before turned out to be a full-on bug of some kind. Her head was pounding and super congested, she couldn’t keep any food down, and her whole body hurt like hell from the moment she woke up.

Sea Hawk had texted her goodnight sometime after she fell asleep, and she realized she was so preoccupied with her thoughts that she kind of just left without saying goodbye the night before. Or maybe she intended to? She couldn't remember right now. 

He texted her again that morning, but she felt like such garbage that she rolled over and went back to sleep without replying. Perfuma knocked on her door around noon and made her take a shower, telling her it would make her feel better. 

It didn’t make her feel any less sick, but it did clear out her sinuses and soothed her sore throat a little. When she got out, Perfuma had a cup of hot tea, some cold medicine and a thermometer ready for her. 

As she was waiting for the thermometer to give her a reading, Sea Hawk texted her again. She responded with a picture of the thermometer after it beeped, reading 100.6F.

12:32pm **Sea Hawk** : You okay?

12:33pm **Mermista:** [photo] no I’m dying

12:33pm **Sea Hawk:** HOLY SHIT

12:33pm **Sea Hawk:** I THOUGHT THAT WAS A PREGNANCY TEST FOR A SECOND

12:34pm **Sea Hawk:** My heart just jumped out of my chest

12:34pm **Mermista:** lol yeah definitely not. I’m on birth control.

12:34pm **Sea Hawk:** Do you need anything??? Can I bring you medicine or something to eat?? 

12:35pm **Mermista:** no it’s ok 

12:41pm **Sea Hawk:** Can I come over? If that’s okay?

Mermista’s thumbs hovered over the keyboard as she thought about it. She knew she looked and sounded like hell, her voice was scratchy, her hair was damp and tangled and in a bun and she was in her comfiest pajamas which were kind of dorky. Ah, fuck it. This was supposed to be casual, right? So who cares if he sees her looking like a gremlin that was fed after midnight. 

12:43pm **Mermista:** sure the door code is 3478… if I’m sleeping pls let me die though 

12:45pm **Sea Hawk:** You got it, gatinha ;)

Sea Hawk arrived just under an hour later with an arsenal of get better things—medicine, soup, snacks, a box of tissues infused with aloe, some Gatorade and a few other things he thought she might need. Perfuma opened the door for him, greeting him by throwing her arms around him in a hug. 

“Thank the stars you're here! I think she’s trying to sleep right now. She’s been throwing up all morning, I’ve been really worried about her but I have class in 30 minutes… she keeps saying she’s fine but I’m not really sure…” Perfuma rambled until she trailed off. 

“Has she eaten anything?” Sea Hawk asked.

“She had a bowl of cereal and some fruit, then I made her a sandwich but she threw it all up. She was just dry heaving in the bathroom a few minutes ago. I feel really bad.” It warmed Sea Hawk’s heart how much Perfuma cared about Mermista, that she had someone around to take care of her when she needed it. Even if he knew she’d never admit to needing it. “Anyways, I’m glad you’re here,” Perfuma said with a soft smile. She showed him where he could put the Gatorade and a couple of other cold things in the fridge before she left. 

Sea Hawk knocked on Mermista’s door softly. A groan followed by some coughing came from inside, and he took that as a “come in.” 

“Hey, gatinha,” he said softly. Mermista was sitting cross-legged on her bed, blowing her nose. 

“Hey,” she responded in a low, scratchy voice as she threw the tissue in a trash can conveniently located next to her bed. Sea Hawk sat in front of her and handed over the Gatorade. “How’d you know I like the blue kind?” Mermista asked, breaking the seal and taking a drink. The sports drink didn't taste like much of anything, but it was cold and refreshing and she was pretty sure she wouldn't throw it up since it was just liquid. Fingers crossed. Right now she was burning up, so the cold was welcome. 

“It’s the best kind, of course,” Sea Hawk said with a cocky smile as he opened up a blister pack of cold medicine and popped out two orange capsules for her. He handed them over and Mermista popped them into her mouth, washing them down with the Gatorade. 

“Thank you,” she said, grabbing another tissue and coughing into it. 

Sea Hawk squeezed her thigh. “Of course. Are you hungry?”

Mermista made a face as the thought of food sent a wave of nausea through her. “No. Just like, tired, but I can’t sleep. Or, I shouldn’t be sleeping cause I’m gonna mess up my sleep schedule. I don’t know. This is the worst. I feel like garbage.” She covered her face with her hands and groaned. Sea Hawk shifted positions so he was sitting next to her and pulled her into his lap, rubbing her back. She had something on the TV at a low volume, but whatever it was, she wasn’t watching it. She buried her face in his chest and just enjoyed his warmth, because now she was suddenly cold and he was nice and warm and solid, and his t-shirt was so soft and he smelled so good. 

Some time later, they moved to lay down so she was curled up with her head on his chest. Between him rubbing her back while softly humming to her, and the steady rhythm of his heartbeat, she fell asleep. Sea Hawk pulled the blanket over them and fell asleep shortly after himself. 

* * *

Mermista woke up cold and sweating. The sun was down, or at least, behind the building on the other side of the street, and her TV had turned off because of the sleep timer, so the room was pitch black. She felt awful, and even more so when she realized that she was so sweaty while laying halfway on top of Sea Hawk. He was sleeping with his head facing away from her, his hand clutching his phone on his chest and his other arm wrapped around her, his hand loosely gripping her waist. 

She didn’t have time to feel embarrassed because her head was pounding and nausea was replaced by rumbling cramps in her stomach. She was hungry, but the mere thought of food brought the nausea right back. 

Mermista made an effort to get up, trying not to disturb him, but didn’t do a great job because Sea Hawk reflexively tightened his grip on her as she tried to roll over. She rubbed her hand on his, her sweaty palm on his cool one, trying to gently remove his hand. When he didn’t let go, she nudged it until he finally released, but he immediately rolled over and threw his other arm over her, pulling her tightly against him. Still sleeping. 

“Sea Hawk,” she whined, trying to wiggle out from under him. He was heavy, solid muscle, but his cool, bare arms did feel good on her hot skin. 

Her dry mouth and cramping stomach were more vital though, so she grabbed his arm and tried to pry it off of her, pushing her hips back. His phone, now wedged between them, started to ring. 

That woke him up. He released her, sitting up groggily, and she rolled over with a groan. Even warm, the Gatorade was still refreshing and it soothed her stomach a little. Her phone said it was 7pm, so she hadn’t really eaten in almost 24 hours since she’d thrown up everything she ate that day. 

“Oi,” Sea Hawk answered the phone. “Eu tô ocupado, posso te ligar depois?” [Hey. I’m busy, can I call you back later?]

Mermista started digging through the bag of stuff he got her, taking out more of the medication and taking it. He got her chicken noodle soup and some kind of corn chowder soup, a couple different kinds of chocolate, sour gummy worms, peach rings, peppermints, crackers and a few different protein bars. 

“Eu tô cuidado de uma amiga doente,” Sea Hawk explained. “Podemos conversar depois então, ok? Tchau.” [I’m taking care of a sick friend. We can talk about it later, okay? Bye.]

When he got off the phone, he grinned at her. “I didn’t know what your comfort foods are, so I got a variety.”

Mermista held up the can of chicken noodle soup. “It’s all amazing, but I’m gonna see if I can keep this down first before I try anything else. Who was on the phone?” A sneeze snuck up on her, and she couldn’t grab a tissue in time, so she sneezed into her elbow. “Do you need to be somewhere?”

Sea Hawk took the soup from her, making a soft noise in response to her sneeze. “Your sneeze is so cute,” he gushed. “It was Marcos, just wanting to discuss our next trip to see our mom. Nothing urgent.” 

“I’m dying, I’m not cute,” Mermista groaned, taking one of the tissues Sea Hawk brought her and blowing her nose with it. 

“Still cute,” Sea Hawk said as he slid off the bed. He gave her a kiss on the top of her head and said, “Sure you don’t want anything else with this?”

“I’m sure, and I can make it,” Mermista said. When she moved to stand up, she suddenly felt dizzy and sat right back down on the bed. 

“Just relax.” He headed toward the door. 

“Wait! You haven’t eaten either, have you?” Mermista asked. “You can have, like, anything in the kitchen unless it has Perfuma’s name on it.” 

“Thanks, gatinha,” Sea Hawk said with a wink and a big grin before he exited the room. Mermista decided to take the opportunity to change out of her sweaty pajamas and into some fresh ones, apply deodorant and run a comb through her messy hair. She kind of wanted to change her sheets, too, but that was about the maximum amount of effort she was willing to put in right now. Now cold, she cocooned herself in her comforter and was flipping through the movies and shows on the TV when Sea Hawk came back in with a bowl of hot soup in one hand and a half eaten apple in the other. 

He couldn’t help but smile when he saw her all wrapped up in her blanket. Even with her red cheeks, wild hair and half-dazed expression, she was still just the prettiest thing he’d ever seen. 

“Thank you… for everything,” she said when he handed her the bowl. She handed him the remote. “Want to pick something to watch? I can’t decide. Everything is so boring.” 

“Anything for you, gracinha,” he said, placing a hand on her leg over the blanket. “Are you in the mood for anything in particular?”

Mermista shrugged. “Psychological thrillers are cool but I don’t know if my brain can handle one right now. Maybe something dumb and scary?” 

“I have the perfect movie in mind,” Sea Hawk said with a grin. While he searched for it, Mermista scrolled through her phone. 

Texts from Perfuma saying she was going to spend the night at Scorpia’s if Mermista didn’t need anything, texts from Scorpia telling her to feel better. Catra asking what pages they needed to review for the midterm. Bow asking the group chat who was bringing what to the study session, and a million freaking responses. Mermista replied to Perfuma, Scorpia and Catra, then muted the group chat for 24 hours because she couldn’t handle all of that energy right then. 

By now, the soup was cool enough to eat and it felt amazing going down, warming and soothing her throat. Sea Hawk couldn’t remember his Amazon Prime password and it took him some time to reset it, despite Mermista telling him multiple times they could just watch something on Netflix. 

“This way you can use it whenever you want,” he said cheerfully once he was logged in. Just after he found the movie, a timer went off on his phone. “Be back in a couple of minutes,” he said.

“‘Kay,” Mermista said, currently focused on her soup. By the time he came back, she had finished it and was digging through the bag of snacks, looking for the crackers because her stomach was starting to feel unsettled again. She was nibbling on one when Sea Hawk came back with a hot mug of tea for her, and a bowl of pasta with red sauce for himself. 

“You just cooked that?” Mermista smiled. 

“Yeah, and I made enough so you can have some tomorrow, if you still don’t feel good. Wanna try?” He offered his fork. 

“Only if you wanna be the one who’s dying tomorrow,” Mermista said, shaking her head and blowing on the tea. 

“Oh, right,” Sea Hawk chuckled, retracting his hand. He started the movie. 

The tea was lemon ginger and he’d put some honey in it, so some combination of that made her stomach feel a little better. Maybe she’d actually keep something down. When Sea Hawk finished eating, she tried to just add his bowl to hers on the nightstand, but he insisted on cleaning up so she didn’t have so much to deal with tomorrow. 

“You can just dump them in the sink and I’ll run the dishwasher tomorrow,” she called after him, but the sound of the sink running signalled that he wasn’t listening, either because he was too far away to hear her soft and raspy voice, or he was just ignoring her. She felt like she knew him well enough now to know it was the latter. 

She paused the movie until he got back, deciding to scroll through twitter as she nursed the tea because the nausea was coming back and she really, really didn’t want to start throwing up again. Not while Sea Hawk was there. Messy hair and PJs was a whole different ball game than losing her dinner. 

As fate would have it, she managed to stay okay until about half-way through the movie. They were splitting the peach rings, she was leaning on his shoulder with the blanket on both of them now because the soup and tea warmed her up. Then, the on-screen death was so ridiculously stupid that Mermista couldn’t help but start laughing uncontrollably, which turned into coughing… which turned into her rushing to scramble off of the bed so she could throw up in the trash can. Sea Hawk sat at the edge of the bed rubbing her back as she threw up everything she’d consumed in the last hour. 

“Oh, meu amor,” he said in a soothing tone as he gently rubbed her shoulder. As soon as she felt like she was safe, that it was just dry heaving and nothing else was going to come up, she tied the trash bag shut, then grabbed some tissues to wipe her mouth. Sea Hawk looked at her with a nervous and worried expression. 

“I need to brush my teeth,” was all Mermista managed to say as she picked up the trash can and turned to leave the room. Sea Hawk nodded. Mermista took the trash bag and added it to the kitchen trash, which Perfuma had blessedly emptied earlier that morning, relined the can and then went to the bathroom. She peed, washed her face and brushed her teeth. Something about all of that made her feel better already. 

When she returned to the bedroom, Sea Hawk had a fresh, cold Gatorade ready for her. “There’s more in the fridge,” he explained. “If you can’t keep food down, at least you’ll get some calories and stay hydrated.” 

“Yeah. Thank you.” She suddenly felt overwhelmingly sleepy, as if she’d walked straight through a curtain of melatonin. 

And she thought that it would be pretty nice to be snuggled back into his side, because he was pretty comfortable. A yawn betrayed her, exposing her thoughts. Sea Hawk took the hint. 

“Mind if I stay the night?” He asked. 

“That’d be cool,” Mermista said. “Perfuma’s at Scorpia’s, so…” 

“Great! I already brought a bag.” Sea Hawk got up and grabbed a blue duffel bag that Mermista failed to notice at the end of the bed. “I’ll be right back.”

He went to the bathroom and emerged a few minutes later, wearing sweatpants and a new t-shirt. His hair was combed, face washed and teeth freshly brushed. Mermista was already laying down, looking through her phone and trying to stay awake.

“Got any plans for tomorrow?” She asked as Sea Hawk plugged in his phone and climbed into bed next to her. 

“I close, so nothing til 6.” He crawled under the blanket and made room for Mermista, and she eagerly tucked herself under his arm. She was cold again, okay?

“Cool,” she replied. She thought he might have said something, but she had already passed out by the time he pressed a kiss to her head. 


	26. how the stars aligned

Mermista woke up several times throughout the night. Coughing fits, cold sweats, a pounding head. A few of those times, Sea Hawk woke up with her. Rubbing her back while she coughed it out, holding her if she let him. She worried she’d get him sick, too, but he assured her he’d be fine, that he didn’t get sick very often, and even if he did end up sick--he was happy to be there, and whatever she needed. 

When she would finally find sleep, it was restless and feverish. From the early morning, Sea Hawk laid awake, listening to her murmur and grumble senselessly as she tossed and turned, kicking the blanket off and then burrowing under it or into his side. Her face would go from peaceful to crinkled to worried. She was adorable. 

Meanwhile, Sea Hawk spent half the night trying to fathom how the stars aligned in just the right way to have their paths cross. He’d spent the last few years lost and lonely, finding himself in situations he wasn’t always sure he’d get out of, drowning at the bottom of glass bottles, tangled in bedsheets, spouting words he didn’t mean, balancing the fine line between adventure and danger. 

Then came Mermista. Beautiful, smart, outspoken Mermista. Effortlessly sexy, from the way that she walked and dressed to the way she challenged him with just a look or chewed her lip when she was concentrating. The worst part was that he couldn’t stay away if he wanted to. And maybe he needed to, but what harm would the next few hours cause?

The day they met, the first time he really looked into her eyes as she was inspecting his bruised nose, he felt his heart flutter. Sure, she’d just pulled a knife on him, but that was to be expected, right? His grand entry into her life wasn’t exactly orthodox. He spent that night lost in those golden pools, wondering how the hell he was going to see them again. As usual, he leapt without looking and did what he could to see her again. He didn’t want to just show up at her apartment again, though, in hindsight, wasn’t spending all of that time trying to catch her on the street a little bit worse? 

Waking up with a hellish hangover Wednesday morning, knowing he’d be seeing her later was the reason he got out of bed. His heart stalled in his chest every time she sent an order his way Thursday night, because he knew she’d be at the bar shortly after with that smile and those eyes of hers. Her smile definitely faded as the night went on, and it definitely hurt when he realized she’d just left without saying goodbye, but at least now he knew that she wasn’t feeling great and that was probably why. 

_It had worked, though,_ Sea Hawk thought as he glanced down at her. She was currently tucked under his arm, her cheek pressed against his chest and her hand gripping tightly at his shirt. Light was beginning to peek through the blinds obscuring her window, highlighting her cheek in a straight line. 

As he admired her, she stirred and moved away from him, rolling over onto her back. Even waking up with her every couple of hours, their long afternoon nap yesterday made it so he just couldn’t fall back to sleep. 

He took the opportunity to get out of the bed without waking her up, taking a shower and putting on clean clothes. He found their coffee maker and made some, leaving the pot on the warmer so she could have some when she got up if she wanted it. He mixed up Vitamin C powder he’d brought with him in a glass of water for himself. He meant it when he told her he didn’t mind sticking around even if he did get sick--but if he could avoid it, that’d be nice. 

A cup of coffee and a banana later and he climbed back into bed with her. Mermista was still on her back, her hair falling in her face and splayed across the pillow. Sea Hawk swept her bangs out of her face, moving to tuck them behind her ear. That little motion was enough to stir her, and she woke up with a little yawn before fixing her gaze on him. Her honey-brown eyes were soft as she stared at him through her dark eyelashes, full lips puffed into a pout. 

“Sorry,” he whispered. She made a tiny grumbling noise and curled back up to him, buried her face into his side, and threw her arm across his chest to pull him closer. He couldn’t help but chuckle, causing her to squeeze just a little tighter. 

Mermista fell back to sleep for a couple more hours. Her fever must have broken sometime during the night, because she didn’t feel quite as bad when she finally woke up. Her head was a little clearer and her throat felt a little less scratchy. 

She wondered how long Sea Hawk had been letting her use him as a pillow while he scrolled through his phone. He didn’t seem to notice her wake up right away, distracted by whatever he was reading or looking at, so she just studied his face for a few moments. 

The late morning light and the light from his phone cast soft shadows across his face, highlighting his cheekbones and the light sprinkle of freckles across them. His dark auburn hair was tousled in soft waves, half pushed back and half falling over his forehead. Mermista found herself lingering on his long dark eyelashes, wondering who decided it was fair to waste perfect eyelashes on boys who didn’t care either way. She moved her hand up to smooth out his mustache, which was a little bit messy from sleeping. At her touch, Sea Hawk smiled with his eyes and took hold of her wrist, kissing her fingertips. 

“Morning, coisa linda,” he said softly, abandoning his phone. “How are you feeling?”

Mermista shrugged, letting her hand rest on his chest again. “Better, I think.” Her voice did sound a lot better. She shifted, moving her leg from where it was wrapped around his. Her eyes widened as her cheeks flushed. Sea Hawk cocked an eyebrow at her. “Um. When did I take my pants off?”

“You got up to go to the bathroom around midnight and came back with no pants on, saying it was too hot.” He smirked. “I’m not complaining.”

Mermista buried her face in his chest and groaned. Sea Hawk was pretty sure she said “why am I like this” but she could have just as easily been asking “why are _you_ like this?” 

“Come here,” he said, gently pulling her on top of him, causing her to emit a little squeak. “You don’t have to hide from me.”

Mermista settled down on top of him. “Comfy,” she said, wrapping her arms around him and nuzzling her face into his neck. 

“Yeah,” he replied softly, enjoying the way she felt on top of him, soft and warm. He moved his hands up and down her back, rubbing under her shirt. She sighed happily, relaxing into him. He felt her lips brush gently against his neck, then _oh, those were teeth,_ and whispered, “Don’t do that unless you want to deal with the consequences.”

“What if I want to?” Mermista bit back, sucking on his earlobe now. She lifted her head after a moment and slid her hips back, grinding against him. 

“You _are_ feeling better, huh?” Sea Hawk teased, enjoying the view he now had down her thin cotton t-shirt. She wasn’t wearing a bra. He moved his hands to her breasts, cupping one in each hand. “Have I told you how amazing these are?” 

“You could stand to say it more.” Mermista moved forward so they were right at his face. 

“Gostosa,” he sighed happily, moving his face between them, pressing his lips to the exposed part of her chest through the deep v neck of her shirt as he held them. After a moment, he tilted his head up to kiss her, but she pulled back, clearing her throat. 

“I don’t want to get you sick,” she said, frowning. 

“I should be fine,” Sea Hawk said, running his hands down her sides, pressing his thumbs into her hips in gentle circles. 

“I don’t want to risk it,” Mermista said, closing her eyes with a soft sigh as he massaged her hips because, _wow_ , that felt really, really nice. She relished in it, enjoying the way his hands made her feel like she was floating. The momentary silence was interrupted by her stomach growling. Her eyes snapped open, prepared to be embarrassed, but Sea Hawk was just looking up at her like she was the only thing in the world. Soft. 

“Go take a shower, let me make you something to eat,” Sea Hawk said after another moment. Mermista nodded and moved to get off of him, sliding off of the bed. A shower sounded nice, and for the first time in a while, the sound of food didn’t make her stomach turn. 

After her shower, she walked into the kitchen wearing navy leggings and a gray tank top. Maybe she’d put on some concealer and mascara, and some of the mousse that made her hair dry in soft waves that looked effortless, despite the fact that she spent, like, 10 minutes scrunching it under the hair dryer. Or, you know, whatever. Just because she was feeling a lot better, didn’t make the dark circles under her eyes go away magically.

Sea Hawk had music playing from his phone, and he was singing along and sliding around the kitchen on his socks. Mermista leaned against the hallway wall, watching him as he moved his hips to the music between sips of coffee and looking through drawers for utensils. He spun around with a butter knife in his hand, catching the counter with the other to stop himself when he saw her. 

“H-hey,” he said with a sheepish smile. 

“Hey, goofball,” Mermista replied, moving towards him now. She didn’t know when she started to smile, but right now a grin was spread across her face. 

“You look gorgeous,” Sea Hawk said as she approached him. “As usual,” he added, stroking her cheek with the back of his hand. Was she blushing? It felt like she was. Why did her cheeks have to betray her this way? Why did he have to be so sweet, and hot and… kind, she asked herself as he presented her with a plate with some buttered toast and a bowl of oatmeal swirled with brown sugar and cinnamon with a sliced banana on top. “I did some Googling, and this should all be easy on your stomach.” 

“Thank you,” Mermista said, wondering how the hell she managed to find this enigma of a man. Or how he managed to find her, technically. She took them to the table and he joined her with his own bowl just a few moments later. Before she could think or stop herself, Mermista found herself saying, “We sat just like this the day we met. Minus the blood, of course.” It felt like a lifetime ago, but it was what? Six weeks? She turned her attention to stirring the oatmeal, speeding up the cooling process.

“And now I get to take care of you,” Sea Hawk chimed in. 

“Still not sure why you’d even want to,” Mermista grumbled, taking a bite of the oatmeal. “This is really good,” she said. 

“Thanks!” Sea Hawk grinned, then rested his cheek on his fist with his elbow on the table, focusing his gaze on her. “And what kind of friend would I be if I just left a beautiful girl like you alone in your time of need?”

Oof, friend. Okay. Why did that feel so bad? Wasn’t that what she’d resolved to do just a week ago when she woke up next to him for the first time? No feelings, just… fun. She’d told herself she wasn’t looking for anything. For anyone. He just made it so _hard_ , with his flirting and his hands and those lips. The way he made it clear that he cared, genuinely _cared,_ about how she was doing, how her day was going, if she was okay. Not to mention how respectful he was, always making sure she was on board with whatever he was doing to her. 

Mermista wasn’t on board with these feelings, though. She doesn’t need this right now, doesn’t need to get hung up on him. She knew she was capable of sleeping with someone without catching feelings, she’d done it before plenty of times. That’s what she resolved, right? 

(even if all of those times were one-night-stands ending in her never seeing the other person again.)

She forced a smile and shoved those emotions down somewhere deep, somewhere she didn’t go very often, or maybe ever. “Yeah, well, thanks, or whatever,” she said before turning her attention back to the oatmeal. That first bite triggered her stomach, and she was _starving_. 

Sea Hawk didn’t notice the change, instead launching into talk about how he and Marcos were going to go see his mom in a few weeks and how excited he was to see her. Mermista asked questions to keep him talking, anything to distract her from her own thoughts. It helped that he had a lovely voice and spoke with such vibrant emotion, like he was the narrator to the story of his life. 

He tried to get Mermista to go back to bed while he cleaned up, but she insisted she couldn’t let him do everything. So he washed dishes while she wiped down counters and put things away. She had laundry to do, so she left him on the couch while she started a load of it. It wasn’t a lot, but she definitely felt the fatigue from whatever was making her sick starting to wear her down. So she grabbed her comforter and dragged it into the living room, tossing him the remote before climbing onto the couch and laying with her head in his lap. 

“Let’s finish that movie.”


	27. back in her element

Mermista could have sworn Sea Hawk was scheduled to work Sunday, but he wasn’t there. She checked the schedule on her phone—he should have been. So where was he? Octavia was there in his place, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. When he left last night, he didn’t mention anything. Everything seemed fine.

6:32pm  **Mermista** to  **Sea Hawk** : I told you I was gonna get you sick dumbass

8:48pm  **Mermista** to  **Sea Hawk** : need anything?

10:27pm  **Mermista** to  **Sea Hawk:** you ok?

He never responded. She took a picture of the schedule for the next week in the back at the end of her shift and realized that he’d gotten all of his shifts covered. 

What the fuck?

She sat in her car in the parking lot, both hands on the steering wheel for probably thirty minutes after her shift was over, contemplating whether or not to drive to his place to check on him. But what if he wasn’t responding because he didn’t want to talk to her? She didn’t want to be weird. Or cross some kind of line. 

She exhaled a long sigh, a breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding, and put the car into drive. She resisted the urge to drive to his house the whole drive home, hit the curb while she attempted to parallel park and fumbled with the door code multiple times until it locked her out because her hands were shaking so much. 

“Hey, what’s up?” Perfuma answered the phone, sounding half-asleep.

“I locked myself out, can you come open the lobby door?” 

Perfuma yawned into the phone. “Yeah, give me a few minutes.” She opened the door to the lobby in her pajamas and socks, stifling a yawn. “They should get us those buttons that unlock the door from our apartment,” she said as they entered the elevator. 

“That would be nice,” Mermista responded, absentmindedly picking at her cuticles. Normally Perfuma could read her like a book, she was grateful that she was half asleep right now because she didn’t want to be psychoanalyzed tonight. 

“Hey,” Perfuma said suddenly back at the apartment. Ah, shit, maybe she wasn’t so lucky. “You have swim practice Monday mornings, right?” 

“Ugh, don’t remind me,” Mermista groaned as she shrugged her bag off into a chair at the dining room table and walked over to the fridge to scrounge up something to eat. 

The pasta Sea Hawk made was still there, so she grabbed it and spooned out a serving into a bowl before popping it into a microwave. He was a pretty damn good cook, it turned out. 

“Can I catch a ride with you? I have class at the same time, so…”

Mermista raised an eyebrow at Perfuma. Normally Scorpia drove her to school—their schedules were identical. “Yeah, of course. Trouble in paradise?” 

Perfuma sighed, hoisting herself up into the counter, pulling long tan legs into a cross-legged position. Mermista waited as she tried to find her words. “Scorpia’s just… too nice, sometimes. I guess Catra and her roommate, DT? I think? They got into an argument and now Catra’s staying at Scorpia’s for a few days while they calm down and… I just don’t care for it.” 

Damn. Mermista had been so caught up in her own shit she didn’t realize that any of this had been going on. The microwave beeped. 

“For what it’s worth, Catra’s like, waaayyyy too hung up on Adora. I don’t think she’s going to try anything,” Mermista responded as she grabbed her food from the microwave, stirring it with a fork. She wasn’t going to mention what Glimmer was attempting. It didn’t seem like the time, and besides—it wasn’t her business to tell. 

“I trust Scorpia. I just feel like she’s too much of a pushover sometimes. It’s not her job to babysit Catra.” The way she spat out Catra’s name, bitter and intense, reminded Mermista of a side of Perfuma she hadn’t seen in years. 

Mermista considered her next few words carefully, taking her time swirling spaghetti around her fork. “So, alternatively, Catra would have probably asked me if she could crash here.” 

“And you would have told her no,” Perfuma said immediately. 

“‘Fuma, Catra’s my friend. I wouldn’t just put her out on the streets. It’s not like she’d be moving in, she’d just be sleeping on the couch, or, my bed, I guess, if that would be too much.” 

Perfuma narrowed her eyes. “So you’re gonna take her side? I thought you were  _ my _ friend.” 

“What? There’s no sides here? Nobody did anything wrong?” Mermista furrowed her brows. 

“How can you say that?” Perfuma asked, puffing up. “You really don’t see an issue with Catra hanging around Scorpia, or, or us like that?”

“You just said you trusted Scorpia. And if you trust me, I’m telling you that you shouldn’t worry about Catra. I can  _ assure _ you that she’s not going to try anything. You can’t spend your whole life worrying about what might happen, especially when you have plenty of evidence that it’s not going to happen.”

Perfuma deflated. “I guess you’re right. I should trust her. She’s my girlfriend and she wouldn’t do that to me.”

“She wouldn’t,” Mermista echoed as Perfuma slid off the counter, stealing her fork and taking a bite of the pasta twirled around it. 

“Mmm, this is good,” she said. “Thanks. For all of that.”

Mermista yanked her fork back. “Yeah, well, don’t make a big deal out of it. Go back to bed.”

Perfuma kissed her on the temple. “Goodnight!” 

“Night,” Mermista responded as Perfuma sauntered out of the kitchen, leaving her alone with her food and her thoughts. 

* * *

Perfuma shook her awake the next morning. “Did you forget to set an alarm??” She exclaimed, yanking Mermista’s blanket off of her when she grumbled and tried to pull it over her head. 

“You’re lucky I don’t sleep naked,” Mermista groaned as she sat up. 

“Not like you’re hiding anything I haven’t seen before,” Perfuma said in a singsong tone. Her bad mood from last night was gone, replaced with her usual chipper sunshine and rainbows. Mermista missed bitter Perfuma as sunshine Perfuma was trying to drag her out of bed. “Hurry up! Get dressed! We have to leave in 10 minutes!” 

Mermista groaned, checking her phone. It was 7:50. She was disappointed to see she had no notifications. 

By the time she was in the car shoving a protein bar into her mouth, wearing her school issued purple and blue track pants and jacket with her hair thrown up in a bun, she was feeling pretty excited to get back in the water. Her burn was pretty much healed all the way, leaving an oval shaped scar a few shades lighter than the surrounding skin. Perfuma took over the radio, playing something far too upbeat for Mermista to handle at this hour.

Lonnie looked as exhausted as Mermista felt as she ran into the locker room at the very last minute, in just her swimsuit and track pants and flip flops. 

“Uh, Netossa said we have track laps today,” Mermista said. 

“Fuuuuuuck,” Lonnie groaned, dropping her bag on a bench and digging through it for her sneakers. Without warning she shucked off her pants and swimsuit, standing naked in front of Mermista as she searched for something in her bag. 

Mermista’s felt her face catch on fire, because Lonnie was  _ hot _ , okay? She’d been doing softball and soccer since she learned to walk, and did JROTC and swim in high school on top of that. Mermista was pretty sure she was solid, compact muscle, but she still had an amazing ass and  _ oh, _ those were nipple piercings. Oh god, she was definitely looking for too long. Mermista slipped her phone out of her pocket and tried to distract herself. The level of confidence Lonnie must have had to just strip completely naked in the locker room was something Mermista was sure she’d never have. She’d rather walk home with a wet swimsuit under her track pants or smack her elbows into the walls of a narrow bathroom stall before she stripped naked in front of everyone. 

Suddenly, Lonnie was looking right at her with hazel eyes as she slid a sports bra over her head. 

“Huh?” Mermista asked, snapping back to reality, cheeks burning. 

Lonnie laughed. “I said, I thought this was a swim team, I would have joined track if I wanted to run.”

“Oh, yeah,” Mermista agreed, laughing along. 

Despite Lonnie’s late entry, they were the first two on the track. Coach Netossa was already there, talking on the phone. She ended the call as they approached her. 

“Hey, ladies!” She greeted them. “Good to see you back in action, Mermista.”

“Glad to be back. How are Professor Spinnerella and the baby?”

“Do you want to see pictures!?” Netossa wasn’t usually so bubbly, but she was more than happy to pull up her photo album. “Look at the little guy!!”

“Aww, what did you guys end up naming him?” Lonnie asked. 

“His name is Gale!” Netossa was absolutely chuffed. 

“That’s adorable,” Mermista said. She didn’t quite get the appeal of babies, and newborns often looked like wet little aliens, but Gale was kind of cute. In a squishy kind of way.

The rest of the team began moving onto the field, so Netossa put her phone away and told them to get a move on. Mermista put one headphone in and set up her running playlist while she and Lonnie began stretching. 

She wanted to ask Lonnie if she knew anything about Sea Hawk, because they both worked Saturday night. But Lonnie’s words from the other night echoed in her head, and it hadn’t even been 24 hours. If she was going to get upset because he hadn’t texted her back last night, well, that was anything but casual. 

She wasn’t upset. She wasn’t.

She was just worried, okay?

Like, who did that? Who just fucked off into nothingness without telling someone they’d literally just slept next to the night before?

“Come on, girl,” Lonnie said, nudging Mermista’s foot with her shoe. Mermista got to her feet and they started jogging. 

Normally Mermista despised running. She hated sweating, not being able to breathe. Today, however, the burn in her calves and her lungs felt good. She couldn’t really talk while running and focusing on her breathing and form kept her away from other thoughts, so it was a good distraction. She even managed to match Lonnie’s pace today, when at the beginning of the semester Lonnie had lapped her the first day they were out here. And she had been trying. 

Still, nothing felt better than the moment she dove into the pool. Especially after running, the water was super refreshing and she loved the way her arms and shoulders burned at the end of practice. Netossa pulled her to the side at the end while everyone else was getting ready to leave. 

“I know you’ve taken the last two weeks off, so I’m wondering if you’re still planning on being my middle anchor for the relay?” she asked. 

“Yeah, definitely, I should be fine. I can’t be slowed down that easily,” Mermista said with a grin, feeling really energetic after practice was over. 

“That’s what I like to hear! Good work today. See you at next practice.” 

* * *

Mermista had way too much time on her hands to bridge the gap between practice and the study group tonight. She didn’t have any school work that needed to be done right then, and Perfuma had made up with Scorpia already so she didn’t need a ride home, nor would she be home anytime soon. Swim practice made her super energetic, so she was too antsy to go home and sleep. 

Sea Hawk  _ still _ hadn’t texted her back. 

She wanted to text him again… but wouldn’t that be too much? She stared at the three messages she’d sent him back to back the night before, wondering if maybe she crossed a line somewhere by calling him a dumbass. 

He had to know she was kidding, right?

He had to. 

She chewed on her lip.

She needed a distraction. 

An hour later, she was on the beach in her surfboard and her wetsuit, back in her element. 


	28. strangers tangled in bedsheets

**Monday, September 16. Evening.**

Mermista arrived kind of late at the study group--she surfed, went home and ended up falling asleep nearly the moment she flopped down into her bed. She knew her whole body was probably going to hurt tomorrow, but it had been a really nice day.

Glimmer had already settled herself between Catra and Adora, so Mermista made her way over to the table and asked to borrow her for the night. 

“We have classes together, we can just all study together!” Adora said brightly. Catra looked confused, and tired.

“I really just need Glimmer, she _promised_ she’d help me with something tonight.” Mermista was staring daggers at Glimmer, who promptly swept her books into her bag. She planted a kiss on Adora’s temple before getting up. Catra slid into her seat as she and Mermista made their way to an empty table. 

“Come on dude, we’ve barely started and you’re already distracted,” Mermista groaned as she pulled out her laptop and started looking for an outlet to plug it into. 

“Well you were late! And I don’t know Perfuma and Scorpia well enough to just sit with them until you decided to show up!” She pulled a canned coffee out of her bag and slid it over to Mermista. “Here, payment for your services.” 

Mermista cracked open the coffee and took a drink of it. “Okay, I’ll allow this slip up to pass,” she said. “But no more distractions. Sit next to me. I want to be able to see your screen.” 

Glimmer groaned but complied, handing over her charger cable so Mermista could plug it in, too. 

Adora and Catra were laughing, and Glimmer was staring at them longingly. Mermista elbowed her and she turned her attention back to her laptop. 

A short while later, Lonnie and Kyle joined them. 

“Thought you had plans?” Mermista asked Lonnie. 

“I did, but Rogelio had to do something else tonight, and I figured I might as well take some time to study.” 

“I don’t think I know what you guys are going for!” Glimmer said, desperate for a distraction.

“I’m studying nursing!” Kyle piped up. “Rogelio, too!” 

“Marketing and Communication,” Lonnie said. “Mermista told me that we aren’t supposed to engage with you if we came tonight.” 

“Fuck,” Glimmer said, crossing her arms.

“I told you I was taking this seriously. Give me your phone.” Mermista set a timer for one hour. “One hour of studying, then you can take a snack break.” Lonnie laughed as Glimmer pouted. 

“I regret roping you into this,” Glimmer groaned. 

“Yeah, but you did, so now you’re stuck with me.” 

The library shut down at 3am, and it had been a really good time, even while babysitting Glimmer. Mermista had all but forgotten how frustrated she was at Sea Hawk’s absence and lack of communication by the end of the night. 

* * *

**Saturday, September 14. Night.**

Marcos invited Sea Hawk on a spontaneous trip to Vancouver Island in the middle of his shift on Saturday night. It took some bribery to get his shifts covered for the next week, but he managed to. He even talked Octavia into closing for him so he could get off at 10 rather than 2am. 

The cruiser they preferred for these types of trips was already at the docks when Sea Hawk arrived via Uber, handing the driver a 20 before he got out with his bags. It was Tomás’ cruiser, technically, but he didn’t care who used it as long as they didn’t drive it into a cliff or capsize it. Bridging the fine line between a cruiser and a small yacht, it had four cabins and enough room to sleep 8 people. Marcos claimed that there would only be five of them on this trip, but there were at least two dozen people on the boat when Sea Hawk arrived. Marcos greeted him as he boarded the boat with a big hug. He was already tipsy, and Sea Hawk felt way too sober in comparison.

He sometimes took shots with his customers, and Saturday nights were where he’d lose count of how many he took before the end of the night. If Octavia was there and it was a clear liquid, she’d blessedly start filling his with water the last few hours so he wouldn’t be too shitfaced to drive, and that usually worked. Tonight he had two or three before he left for the night, and they’d mostly worn off by then. 

“Drop off your bag in whichever cabin, I figured we could have a little get together before we headed out,” Marcos explained. “So I invited some people from school.”

Marcos was a senior the year Sea Hawk started high school, so their friend group didn’t overlap too much. Rogelio and Kyle were there, to his surprise, and a few people he vaguely remembered the faces but not the names of. Marcos preferred beer and hard seltzer over hard liquor, so he had a few of his own bottles stashed away in the kitchen under the bar from their last cruise. He was glad to see they were still there, untouched, and filled his flask with Sailor Jerry’s, taking a big swig before he left. 

Sea Hawk ascended the stairs to the deck, planning to meet up with Rogelio and Kyle.

“Sea Hawk!” He turned to face the voice.

It was that girl who checked his ID, from parent pickup when he picked up the kids. What was her name? Last time she had a name tag, she also wrote it down on that piece of paper… Mary? Melissa? “Marissa!” he remembered. “Hey. How have you been?” 

“Wonderful, now that you’re here,” she said, closing the distance between them. “You never called me,” she practically whined, looping her arm through his. Her pupils were wide, dark curls messy and face flushed. She’d definitely had a few drinks in her. 

“Oh, right. Sorry, I’ve just been super busy. I didn’t know you knew Marcos,” Sea Hawk responded, changing the subject.

Marissa giggled. “Oh, yeah? It’s okay, at least we’re here now. I didn’t, my cousin does though. She dragged me here because she likes having an excuse to leave early. Joke’s on her, though. Now that you’re here, I might not want to leave.” She ran a finger down his chest.

“Yeah, well, I, um,” Sea Hawk stammered. A month ago he’d probably be super into this, but he felt conflicted now.He pulled another drink from his flask, not sure what else to do. 

“Ooh, what’s in there?” Marissa reached out for the flask, wrapping her fingers around his as she pulled it to her mouth. She took a pretty big sip, her eyes growing wide as she choked it down. “Wow, that’s hard stuff,” she said after a moment, clearing her throat. 

“Yeah,” Sea Hawk agreed, pulling his hand back and twisting the cap back onto the flask. 

“Come on, let’s dance!” Marissa exclaimed, pulling him to where everyone was gathered. 

“Okay, sure!”

Marcos had always been a huge fan of EDM and that’s what was currently playing from the speakers. Something easy to dance to, and Marissa wasn’t a bad dance partner at all. She was wearing a dress with a skirt that flared out when he spun her around, and she followed his lead flawlessly. The lights strung across the pergola reflected in her blue eyes, and she was wearing a brightly colored lipstick that pulled Sea Hawk’s gaze exactly where she wanted. 

By the time his flask was empty, she was dragging him back to his cabin. 

The entire trip was a clever ruse for Marcos to propose to his long-time girlfriend. They’d been together for about four years at this point, and tonight he really wanted to ask her to make it official and then take her on a beautiful vacation. He… also invited Sebastian, his roommate Jordan, and her brother Nathan to buffer the pain if she said no, and also to take the pressure off of her. The party included all of their friends, and Tomás showed up a little after Sebastian did. 

“Where’s Sebastian?” Marcos asked his older brother, nervously fingering the ring in his pocket. 

“I just saw him getting dragged downstairs, looking pretty debauched, by some girl.”

“Ah, shit. Well, maybe now’s a good time. You’re here, he’s preoccupied… can’t fuck anything up.” 

“You know he doesn’t mean to.”

“I do. He’s just been drinking a lot more lately, and you know how he can get.”

“You’ve noticed, too, huh?” 

Sea Hawk heard the music turn off abruptly, then someone talking, but it was too muffled to make out. “What do you think is happening up there?” he asked. 

“Who cares?” Marissa said. She unzipped her dress and let it drop to the floor. 

Sea Hawk inhaled roughly. “Right.” 

He’d spent many nights like this, with strangers tangled in bedsheets. At some point it became a habit, and, well, habits were hard to break. It took a lot for him to turn someone down, especially when hey were as eager as Marissa had been. He didn’t want to make people feel bad. 

Or, that was what he told himself, anyways.

_“Oh, fuck--Mermista--”_

_“Huh?”_

_“Mmph, Marissa--”_

Sea Hawk didn’t end up getting back to the deck that night, and Marissa left pretty abruptly when they were through. Sea Hawk’s dreams were filled with blue hair, wonderfully soft skin and amber eyes. 

They updated him on the engagement over Mimosas the next morning as Jordan steered the cruiser towards Vancouver island. Sea Hawk wanted to check on Mermista, see how she was doing, but he didn’t have service over the water, and they’d forgotten to ask Tomás to hook up the satellite before they took off. 

It was wonderful to spend time with Marcos and their little family. Sea Hawk had a lot of fun, but he had to admit he felt kind of empty the whole trip, like he was missing something. He’d felt like garbage since Marissa left. He couldn’t remember much of that night the morning after, but he did remember thinking about Mermista the whole time and… that felt bad. 

It seemed to be one thing after another -- his phone charger broke, nobody else had the same kind of charger, and even once they got to Vancouver Island they weren’t really anywhere that he could buy a new charger. 

He fucking missed her voice the most. 


	29. why don’t you come over here and find out?

**Friday, September 20. Nighttime.**

5:34pm  **Glimmer** : ACED MY SPANISH EXAM

5:34pm  **Glimmer** : ACED MY BIO EXAM

5:35pm  **Glimmer** : GOT A B ON MY STATS EXAM

5:35pm  **Glimmer** : ACED MY ART EXAM

5:35pm  **Glimmer** : THANK YOU 

5:35pm  **Glimmer** : SO MUCH

5:37pm  **Glimmer** : IDK HOW I CAN REPAY YOU

5:56pm **Mermista** : they gave u an exam for art?

It was Friday night and the whole crew had planned to go out and celebrate. Perfuma was wearing a fucking sundress to a club, and somehow managed to make it work. Mermista had on a tight leather skirt, fishnets, a low cut grey shirt, and a military style jacket to pull it together. She’d considered Sea Hawk’s NASA jacket, but she was kind of really mad at him now, so she put it back into her closet. 

Tuesday morning, she texted him and got back a “failed to send” error message. She lingered after Philosophy class, making up an excuse that she needed to talk to the sub about something on the midterm Thursday. Catra’d just rolled her eyes, called her a nerd and left. 

Her name was Marianne, and she was super sweet. She said she hadn’t really heard anything about Sebastian, but she’d ask Tomás that night if she wanted. 

“No, no, please don’t do that. I’m sure it’s fine.” The last thing she wanted was him to know that she was asking about him. Or that she cared.

She broke down Thursday and finally asked Kyle if he knew anything about it, hoping Kyle would be intimidated enough by her to keep his mouth shut like she asked. 

“Yeah! He-he’s on a trip with his brother, Marcos? They went up to somewhere--Vancouver, I think? Marcos proposed to his girlfriend.” He didn’t know anything else, he swore, and definitely wouldn’t mention it to anyone. 

Why hadn’t he just told her?

She and Perfuma pre-gamed by splitting a bottle of wine before heading downstairs to where their cab, Scorpia’s pickup truck, awaited. Perfuma insisted on selfies in the elevator, saying they looked like Starfire and Raven. Mermista entertained her, but only if she was the one who took the pictures. 

Fake IDs in tow, they entered the club to find that they were the last to arrive. Catra and her roommate had made up and were watching people dance and making fun of them. Bow and Jewelstar, who were official now, were making out in a booth the group had claimed. Adora and Glimmer were dancing. 

With Perfuma paired up with Scorpia, Mermista realized that she was the only one here who didn’t have a partner in crime, and she was going to need a drink. She made a beeline to the bar, handing over her no ID and her debit card to start a tab, and ordered something fruity with vodka in it. 

She made Perfuma promise that either she or Scorpia would stop her from going home with anyone, dodging the subject when Perfuma asked about Sea Hawk. 

While she waited for her drink, a hand brushed up on her ass before wrapping around her waist and she turned to tell whoever the fuck they thought they were to fuck off. 

“Woah, calm down princess,” Catra said with a smirk that caused Mermista to roll her eyes. She handed over her own ID and ordered a drink for herself before perching on a barstool. “Why didn’t you invite Sea Weed?” she asked, speaking loud enough to be heard over the music. “You guys could, like, fuck in the bathroom or something.” Mermista shoved her, causing her to laugh. 

“Ew, don’t be gross. He’s busy.” Mermista wasn’t lying, not exactly. Would she have invited him if he wasn’t? She wasn’t sure of anything anymore. 

“Need a wingman?” Catra’s roommate, who went by Double Trouble, popped up next to them. Mermista had never met them before, but she’d seen pictures of them together on Catra’s instagram. “I can set you up with anyone in this club.”

“No thanks, I’m good,” Mermista responded dryly. She knew from Catra the kind of people DT would get involved with, and she wasn’t interested. The bartender handed her cards back with her drink, and she took it and headed over to where their friends were. 

Three or four drinks in, Glimmer convinced Mermista to come out on the dance floor with her once Adora was too tired, or maybe too drunk, to continue dancing. Shortly after she was on the dance floor, feeling loose and relaxed, a guy joined them. When Mermista turned to him, she blinked stupidly for a second as she took in a boyish mop of blonde hair.

Cam? No, Cam’s eyes were green, not brown, and he wasn’t this tall. 

The guy introduced himself as Damon. 

“Demon?” Mermista quipped, smirking.

“I might be, but you look like an angel tonight.” Mermista rolled her eyes at the dumb pickup line, but he wasn’t bad looking and she wouldn’t mind a distraction, so she let him put his hands on her as they danced. For a moment, she thought about how this wasn’t nearly as nice as the dance Sea Hawk had led her through in his kitchen, but she quickly sent that thought to the back of her head.

If she wasn’t even worth telling he was going to be gone for a week, well, he wasn’t worth thinking about when she was trying to have a good time. 

It wasn’t long before his tongue was down her throat, and she was curiously letting him lead her across the dance floor. Once she realized where he was taking her, she stopped, trying to pull her arm away. 

“I’m not fucking you in a bathroom stall,” Mermista deadpanned. 

“Aw, come on, don’t be a tease. You can’t grind up on me looking like that then tell me you don’t want to fuck me.” Mermista tried to yank her hand away, but he tightened his grip on her wrist. “You know you want to.”

“Let go of me,” she commanded, but he yanked her towards him, grabbing her other shoulder with his free hand and she struggled to pull herself back again—she was far too drunk to hold her own right now. The room was starting to tilt. 

“Don’t make a scene,” Damon hissed in her ear. 

Mermista briefly recalled Sea Hawk saying, “You have my number--you need me? I’m there.”

_ So much for that, I guess.  _

She didn’t  _ need _ Sea Hawk, though. That’s what she resolved, right? She dug her nails into his arm, his thin cotton T-shirt not a great barrier between her and his skin. She went to knee him in the crotch but got his thigh instead, briefly remembering telling him to let her go again before he yanked her down by her hair.

“She said to let go of her,” a voice from behind them said. 

“And who the fuck are you?” Damon practically growled. 

“Why don’t you come over here and find out?” Adora asked, cracking her knuckles. She stepped out from the dimly lit hallway that led to the bathrooms, and into the space Mermista and Damon occupied. Her sleeveless top showed off her toned shoulders and built biceps, and her expression was begging Damon to test her. 

He released Mermista’s arm and hair instead. Adora immediately grabbed her shoulder to help her up. 

“Yeah, well, whatever,” he said, lifting his hands in defeat. “Fucking tease,” he spat at Mermista before turning and going back onto the dance floor. 

“Shit, thanks Adora,” Mermista said. 

“Don’t mention it. I’m just glad I was here. I just came from the bathroom… I thought Glim was keeping an eye on you.” 

Mermista bristled up at that statement. “Why? Do you guys think I need a babysitter?”

“No, that’s not it—“

“Then what is it?”

“We’re just worried, is all. You’ve seemed kind of sad this week. Like you haven’t really been yourself. A-and Perfuma said that you asked her to make sure you didn’t go home with anybody!” 

Mermista rolled her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose with her thumb and forefinger. Of course Perfuma would get everyone involved. “Look. I’m fine. Just tired. Maybe I should head home.”

“Want me to drive you?”

“Haven’t you been drinking?”

“Nope! I have a scrimmage tomorrow morning. I want to be at my peak performance.” Adora took sports as seriously as Mermista took school, so that actually panned out. 

“Okay. Sure.” 

Mermista closed out her tab, and they went to tell everyone what was happening. 

Mermista rolled the window down, resting her head on the door as Adora drove. Adora didn’t push her, and that was one of the things Mermista liked about her. She was kind of awkward herself, but she wouldn’t pressure Mermista into saying anything she didn’t want to. 

* * *

**Sunday, September 22. Late afternoon.**

Somehow, nearly every single one of Mermista’s tables were out of paper towels at the same time. She was crouched down in the back, tucking rolls of them under her arm, when the back door opened and shut. 

“Gatinha!”

Mermista stood up abruptly, her movement stunted by the top of her head smacking the shelf above her. “Fuck,” she groaned, dropping the paper towels as she reached up to rub the spot on her head. 

Sea Hawk rushed to her side, dropping to his knees and wrapping his arm around her shoulders. “Shit, hey, are you okay?” 

Mermista looked up into dark eyes, wide and full of concern. She almost forgot she was mad.

Almost. 

She ducked under his arms and stood up, stepping back. “Yeah, I’m fine.” She grabbed the paper towels and speed walked out of the back. Sea Hawk ran his hands through his hair, staying in the crouched position for a few moments. 

After she didn’t respond to his apologetic text messages, he’d called her last night, three times. 

Five rings. “This is Mermista. Leave a message.” 

“Heyyy, gatinha. It’s Sea Hawk--ah, you probably knew that already. I just got your messages. My phone died, and I didn’t have a charger for the last week. I hope you didn’t think I was ignoring you. I wouldn’t do that to you. Call me back?” 

Two rings. “This is Mermista. Leave a message.” 

“Mermiiiiistaaa, meu bem. I miss your beautiful face. Call me back, please.” 

The last time, she answered and immediately hung up. Click. 

Today went about as well as he’d expected, given all of that.

Sea Hawk stood up and leaned against the shelves, gathering his thoughts. Kyle walked in through the back door, holding his white apron and car keys. “Hey, Sea Hawk! How was your trip?” he asked as he headed towards the lockers. He stopped. “You look upset, are you okay?” 

“I think Mermista is mad at me,” Sea Hawk said. Kyle’s face went white and he turned towards the lockers, causing Sea Hawk to cock an eyebrow at him. “Did she mention anything to you about it?”

“Nope! I’m sure she’s fine! Maybe! I don’t know!” Kyle stuttered, opening his locker and dropping his car keys and phone in it. He took off his coat and shoved it inside, too.

Sea Hawk put on a soft voice that he usually used for comforting people, but he also knew it worked very well when he wanted something from someone. “Kyle,” he drawled, approaching the blonde. “You’d tell me if she said something, right?” 

Kyle was now struggling to tie his apron strings. “Uh, uh--I better be leaving now! Gotta clock in!” He ducked around Sea Hawk and ran out of the back room, his apron hanging loosely around his neck. 

Sea Hawk considered that maybe this was for the best, for a fleeting moment, as he joined Octavia behind the bar and clocked in. If she was mad at him--if she ended it herself, wouldn’t it be easier? 

Then maybe he wouldn’t have to tell her about sleeping with Marissa, which had been eating away at him since the morning after. There was some chemistry between him and Nathan, but he didn’t let it go anywhere.

He felt so fucking guilty about it.

He spent the first half of the trip to Vancouver Island trying to convince himself that because they weren’t together, he wasn’t in the wrong there, it wasn’t as bad as he felt like it was. He was shitfaced for most of the second half of the trip, not wanting to think about it. Marcos threatened to throw him overboard for being annoying, and Sea Hawk was pretty sure he’d been serious about it. 

Octavia pulled him out of his head. “Hey. We’ve been slow. Bar’s empty. Even the tables aren’t drinking. Care if I take my lunch now?”

Sea Hawk put on his work face as he turned around. “Of course! Enjoy!” Was he talking louder than usual? Octavia gave him a look, decided it wasn’t worth it, then passed him to leave. He busied himself taking inventory of everything, knowing they needed to place an order tomorrow.

A few drink orders fed through the printer, and he abandoned his inventory to make them. Seconds later, Lauren was in front of him, holding her tray flat against herself. “Hey, Hawk. Haven’t seen you in a while, where’ve you been? I’ve missed your pretty face.”

“Just went on a little boat trip with my brother for his engagement,” Sea Hawk said dryly, mixing her drinks as quickly as possible. Lauren was the one person in the restaurant he had to put this voice on for, because if he even put a hint of flirtatiousness in his tone, she would take it too far. 

“Ooh, sounds fun! It’s been for _ ever _ since I’ve been out boating.” She was leaning forward against the counter now, the position of her arms pressing her breasts together in her deep v-neck shirt. Sea Hawk kept his focus on the drinks.

“Yeah, I wish I got out more, too.”

“Yeah? Since your dad owns a boating company, I figured you’d be out all the time.”

Sea Hawk shrugged, not wanting to get into it, then set her glasses in front of her before turning back to his inventory. He caught a glimpse of a blue ponytail whipping around as Mermista immediately changed direction and headed towards one of her tables. 

Had she been watching him?


	30. not ready to give you up

Mermista managed to avoid Sea Hawk for the remainder of her shift, slipping out of the front so she didn’t have to pass him on her way through the back. She had two shifts that overlapped with him, and switched both of them so she had more time to compose herself. She knew she couldn’t avoid him forever, probably only a week or so, but she just… needed more time. Her luck ran out Thursday. Lonnie couldn’t switch with her because she had to make up a lab in one of her classes, and the other waitresses didn’t have shifts she could fit into her schedule. 

Lonnie asked what the problem was, and Mermista dodged the question, changing the subject to their upcoming swim meet. Lonnie didn’t push her--Sea Hawk was easy to get to talk, she just had to beat around the bush a little. Mermista kept her secrets under lock and key behind several invisible walls she’d built.

Sea Hawk desperately wanted to, but he didn’t push her. After the voicemails, he sent her an apology and didn’t try anything else after. Maybe this was for the best, maybe it’s what needed to happen. After all, he came back this time. But maybe there’d be a time in the future where a drop would go bad, he’d get busted, or for some reason or other he’d have to leave for an extended period of time and contacting her would only put her in danger. 

Yeah, maybe it was for the best. 

The radio silence made her more nervous that he’d go out of his way to see her at work, or do some crazy grand gesture, but he didn’t. Maybe he was paying attention in the time they spent together.

She did get one weird, six minute long voicemail at 1am on Tuesday night, but it sounded like a pocket dial, rustling fabric, clinking glass and heavy bass, muffled laughter.

Thursday came, and her shift was a short five hour shift that started just half an hour before his did. She was already in the swing of things by the time he showed up, and they were steady enough that she had plenty of things to keep her mind and body busy.

It was just Mermista’s luck that her last table of the day ordered drinks and the waitress who had been grabbing her drink orders for her had just stepped out for a smoke break. For the last five hours, she’d managed to avoid the bar, and simultaneously, Sea Hawk. She was so sure she was going to make it through the end of this shift without speaking to him, giving her more time to figure out what she even wanted to say. If she wanted to say anything at all. 

Chewing on her lip as she entered the order into the dining POS, she snuck a glance over at the bar. Sea Hawk was talking to one of his customers, grinning and nodding. He turned to the sound of the printer spitting out her orders, excusing himself, and pulled the order to read it. She watched as he pushed his hair back, then rolled his shoulders back. He didn’t look over at her, but she knew her name was on the receipt. 

Mermista begrudgingly knew that she couldn’t waste  _ too _ much time--drinks were always best as fresh as they could be, Sea Hawk had told her on her first day. Still, she bussed one of Lauren’s tables to bide her time. 

She had tried to avoid looking Sea Hawk’s way all night, but now she was out of time. She didn’t feel ready, but she was as ready as she thought she would ever be. She rolled her shoulders and straightened her back before striding over to him. He had just finished the third drink with his back to her as she approached the counter. 

Sea Hawk startled when he turned around, like he was surprised to see her. “Mermista, I--” he stopped as soon as she met his gaze, amber eyes dark and her jaw set. He sucked in his bottom lip nervously, gripping the drink in his hand with wide, dark eyes, and she missed him so much that it hurt. It’s why she needed time without him around to think--she knew that as soon as she looked into his eyes, her defenses would crumble. 

“When’s your lunch?” Mermista asked, happy for an excuse to look away as she set the first two drinks on her tray. Her voice was much calmer than she expected it to be, she was so worried she’d be a stuttering mess.

Sea Hawk checked his watch as he set the third drink on the tray. “About half an hour?” 

Mermista grabbed the tray. “I’ll be off then, so... meet me on the pier. Or don’t. But if you don’t, I’m never talking to you again.” She met his eyes once more before turning and walking away.

Sea Hawk swallowed roughly. 

* * *

Mermista was standing at the end of the pier, standing on her toes as she peered over the railing out to the water. She’d let her hair down and a breeze had her hair fluttering in the wind. She was wearing a skirt and thigh high socks and--his NASA jacket, now. The bare skin between her socks and the hem of her skirt was honestly unfair. 

It was pretty clear that tourist season was coming to an end. Only one other person had even been on the pier as Mermista waited, a guy on a bicycle leisurely making his way towards the boardwalk. The sound of Sea Hawk’s footsteps on the wooden pier caught her attention, but she didn’t turn, instead letting him come to her. Her hands were balled up into fists so tight that her nails were digging into her palms. 

“Hey, gatinha,” he said softly, keeping his hands at his sides even though he desperately wanted to wrap his arms around her and hold her. 

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” 

A valid question, but one he didn’t know how to answer. 

“You know,” she continued, releasing her clenched fists and now nervously picking at her cuticles. “The first thing I thought was, “well, now that he’s seen me at my worst he’s realized that I’m actually a gremlin and doesn’t want anything to do with me. I mean, I was literally half naked on top of you that morning and you didn’t even try to fuck me.” 

“I would never think--You were sick--”

“Don’t interrupt me.” 

“Sorry.”

Mermista sighed. “And then I--then I remembered you saying at your dad’s house that you didn’t want me to get involved, and at the time I thought you meant with… well, your other work and stuff. But I realized you meant altogether.” Sea Hawk watched her bite her lip, eyes still focused on the horizon.

“And that was fine. I’m okay with that. It’s not like I--not like I’m dying to get into something serious, I’m not ready to give you up. And I like how things have been, between us, the way they are right now.” As she trailed off, Sea Hawk wanted to reach out and wrap his arm around her, smooth out her expression with his hands, but he constrained himself.

“But your-your phone stopped receiving my texts altogether, so I started thinking the worst. That you’d gone and gotten hurt or--or shot.”

“Oh, meu amor...” Sea Hawk breathed out, feeling every ounce of pain she was in that moment.

“I was worried about you, asshole. Who the fuck  _ does _ that? You left my house and I just don’t hear from you again for a week?” She turned to him now, shoving his arm, but not hard enough to push him backwards. “You could have been  _ dead _ .” Her voice broke. “I thought you were dead.” The last words came out so softly, barely audible. It was dark out, but the lights on the pier reflected off of the tears rolling down her cheeks. Sea Hawk pulled her into his chest, wrapping his arms around her tightly. She shook against him with a sob. 

It was this exact moment that he realized that she was always going to be a part of his life, whether or not he wanted her to be. After this, he wasn’t going to -- he couldn’t -- let her go. It wasn’t the amazing sex, how bright and funny and intelligent she was, or her honestly unbelievable beauty. 

She knew him, and she still cared about him -- so much that it hurt. 

“I’m so sorry, Mermista. I’m so, so sorry.” He stroked her hair with one hand, and she finally wrapped her own arms around his waist. “I swear, I--it was just a bunch of different things at once. Marcos invited me last minute, we didn’t have service, then my phone charger broke. We didn’t go somewhere that you could just go out and buy one. I thought about you every fucking day. The last thing I wanted to do was make you worry about me.” Mermista wriggled in his arms, and he loosened them, giving her space without letting her go. 

She sniffled, then leaned back, tilting her face to look up at him. Even in the moonlight, her eyes were the most beautiful shade of golden brown he’d ever seen. He could get lost in them, drown in them. Holding onto her waist with one hand, he used the other to brush her hair out of her face, wiping her cheeks with the sleeve of his shirt. He left his hand on the side of her face, and for a moment, they just looked at each other.

Mermista looked away first, feeling way too warm. “Can we walk?”

“Of course,” Sea Hawk said. He intertwined his fingers in hers, and she didn’t pull her hand free. 

“Just, like, give me a heads up before you decide to disappear next time,” Mermista said, hip checking Sea Hawk as they headed down the boardwalk. He stumbled, laughing. 

“I promise,” he said, nudging her back. 

“Also, I… um. I think we should set some ground rules if we’re gonna keep doing this.” Mermista had plenty of time over the last week to think about this, especially after her conversation with Kyle confirmed he was more or less safe. She built her walls back up, she wasn’t going to let herself get hurt here. And she knew the root cause of her anxiety, and knew that the only way to control it would be communication.

“I think that’s a good idea.” Sea Hawk didn’t need to ask what ‘this’ was. 

"So, I don't really care if you sleep with other people, it's not like we're together, or anything. Just, y'know, let me know what’s going on, and use protection. And if something feels weird, swear you’ll get tested or whatever. And I’ll do the same." Sea Hawk’s stomach dropped at the idea of her with anyone else but him, but knew immediately that he wasn’t being fair.

“Yeah. Absolutely.”

Mermista stopped walking, but didn’t let his hand go. “With that said,” she began as he turned to him. “I need to let you know that I almost hooked up with someone Friday night, but I didn’t, because he was an asshole.” 

Sea Hawk nodded. “Okay. I should tell you, I… slept with someone, last week. I’m not proud of it. I was drunk, and--”

Mermista shook her head, but he saw her shoulders drop for just a moment. She swallowed the lump that formed in her throat. “Listen. As long as you don’t, like, turn me down to fuck someone else, it’s… whatever.” She met his eyes, putting on a smile and squeezing his hand. “Thanks for telling me.” 

“Yeah. And I can assure you that I’d  _ never _ turn you down, and definitely not for someone else. Have you seen yourself, gracinha? You’re the most gorgeous, intoxicating, intelligent woman I’ve ever met.”

Mermista was thankful that it was dark out and they’d stopped somewhere relatively dark, because she knew her face was bright red. 

“Are we okay?” Sea Hawk asked, needing the confirmation. 

Mermista nodded. “Yeah, we are.” 

“Good.” Mermista squeaked in surprise as Sea Hawk effortlessly lifted her up and sat her on top of the wooden railing that separated the boardwalk from the beach, holding her steady with his hands on her hips. “Because we’ve got about 10 minutes left, and all I want to do is kiss you right now.” 

Mermista didn’t respond, instead, wrapping her arms around his neck and meeting him halfway. 

Sea Hawk walked Mermista back to her car, holding hands until they were under the floodlight behind Seaworthy’s. 

“What are you doing tomorrow?” Sea Hawk asked as he opened her car door for her. 

“Supposed to have swim practice at eight, but my coach moved it to four, so… nothing until then,” Mermista said as she slid into the seat. 

“Do you want to spend the night at my place?” Sea Hawk asked, not caring about the hint of desperation in his voice. She looked fucking good in that skirt, and he missed her so much. It took all of the willpower he had not to fuck her right there on the boardwalk. 

She didn’t respond for a moment as she thought about it. “What time are you getting home?” She finally asked. 

“Midnightish?” It was around eight-thirty. 

“Text me your garage code?” 

Sea Hawk beamed at her like a little kid on Christmas, then ducked into the car to kiss her again. “See you soon.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for sticking with me this long! Don't worry -- this isn't the end, just figured this would be a nice little place to wrap up the first "book". I'll have a make-up sex one-shot and the first chapter of book 2 out sometime this week!
> 
> Please let me know what you've thought of so far--any thoughts you've had for the future are welcome, too! I have the whole story outlined, but I'm always looking for things to throw in there.


End file.
